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Enrique Simonet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Simonet and the second or maternal family name is Lombardo.
Enrique Simonet
Self-portrait, 1910
Born
Enrique Simonet Lombardo

February 2, 1866
Valencia, Spain
DiedApril 20, 1927(1927-04-20) (aged 61)
Madrid, Spain
Known forPainting

Enrique Simonet Lombardo (February 2, 1866 – April 20, 1927) was a Spanish painter.[1][2][3]

Early life

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Simonet was born in Valencia in a Christian household of high social standing. His father was land-registrar Enrique Simonet Baca (1830–1899) and his mother was María de los Dolores Lombardo Riera; they had five other children.[2][4] His first vocation of childhood was religious studies, but, with paternal support, he abandoned it to devote himself to painting. Despite being Valencian and studying at the Saint Charles Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Valencia, he joined a circle of artists in the city of Málaga. He also attended the workshop of Bernardo Ferrándiz Bádenes, forming part of the Malaga school of painting.[5][6]

Career and travel

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Bronze medal inscribed with "Enrique Simonet" in centered gold-colored text
Bronze First Class medal 1896 by the III Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries, Barcelona; given for Simonet's Flevit super illam (painting) [es][7]
In a dark morgue illuminated by a lone window, an anatomist in black holds a human heart; lying, dead and naked, in front of him on a table is a semi-clothed young woman.
¿Y tenía corazón? (And she had a heart!) 1890 by Simonet; depicts an anatomist grasping a young woman's heart in a morgue reflecting increased Parisian interest in life and death[8]

In 1887 obtained a grant to study painting in the Fine Arts Academy in Rome, where he painted in 1890 Heart's Anatomy; a painting that would bring him international recognition and which won him several prizes and was displayed at the Paris Salon in 1895.[9][10]

Taking advantage of his stay Simonet traveled throughout Italy (including Venice where he painted Venetian Waterscape from 1887–1890), visited Paris several times and in 1890 he made a tour of the Mediterranean.[11] He also traveled to the Holy Land, where he painted his monumental work Flevit super illam (painting) [es] which he received numerous medals for including Madrid in 1892, Chicago in 1893, Barcelona in 1896 and Paris in 1900.[12][13] In 1893 and 1894 Simonet traveled to North Africa, later acting as a war correspondent in Morocco for the magazine La Ilustración Española y Americana.[11][14][15][16]

Asunción Castro Crespo was born in Córdoba in 1872 and raised in Málaga where she, at 18 years old, met Simonet. On February 26, 1897, Asunción and Enrique got married at the Church of Saint Jerome the Royal in Madrid. They had seven children together.[2][4] Simonet often used her for his artistic studies, and she was the model for Venus in The Judgement of Paris.[17]

Oil painting featuring three main woman, one of which central and nude, being judged by Paris, crouching, donning an animal's skin, in the corner.
The Judgement of Paris 1904 by Simonet; depicts the Greek myth in which Paris chooses Aphrodite as the fairest woman against Athena and Hera leading to the seduction of Helen and the Trojan War[18]

In 1901, he became professor of Studies and Forms of Nature and Art, at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona; during this time, in 1904, he painted his masterpiece The Judgement of Paris. On August 30th of the next year, in his painting Eclipse, he depicted Northern Spain's eclipse.[18] In 1911 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid.[19] Again, Simonet visited and painted in Morocco. Between 1921 and 1922 he was director of the Private Paular for landscapers.[20]

A pregnant woman on floral background in a white dress holding red flowers
Asunción Castro Crespo, the painter's wife 1914; vibrantly depicts Simonet's cheerful and pregnant wife in a satin pink dress and lace mantilla on a floral background; fittingly presented under the title A maja[17]

Style

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Like many other Spanish artists of the time, Simonet's work displays a relatively-continuous style with Spanish painting and was similarly inspired by the impressionist movement. Progressively, his works showed greater realism and attention to detail, straying away from the impressionist style. In his works made on his visits to North Africa, Simonet embraced an orientalist theme and included stereotypically Moroccan and Arabian elements in his paintings.[10]

As seen in Asunción Castro Crespo, the painter's wife, the use of seemingly-unorthodox colors (blues, reds, and pinks) in the texture of her skin is consistent with Simonet's style.[17]

A grazing flock of sheep grazing on a rocky slope; the colors are light and brushstrokes are solid and often minimally modeled. A woman in orange bottoms and a white top sits idly on a rock overlooking the sheep.
Flock of sheep (date unknown; late in his life) by Simonet; depicts a rocky pastoral landscape inland of a Mediterranean town. The brush style make greater use of flat areas of color.[18]

Circa 1914, Simonet's style began to shift to include flatter areas of solid color and a decreased color intensity, which made his paintings look more akin to watercolors.[18] From the end of World War I until his death, Simonet's works were dominated by landscapes of the Spanish countryside and forests.[18]

His work often covers religious— much of which from the New Testament— subject matters. His early work reflects his early study of devotion, such as his 1891 Head of Jesus Deep in Contemplation. Some of his more famous works, The Beheading of Saint Paul and Anatomy of the Heart, are often noted for his use for dismembered body parts. The former of these aligns with Simonet's tradition of depicting gory scenes— such as with El Quite— the latter being consistent with the tradition of anatomy paintings. During his time as director, he showed his artistic ability of illustrating landscapes in works such as Cascada de La Hiruela.[10][20]

Many of Simonet's work are signed with "E. Simonet" in the corner.

Death and legacy

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Simonet died on April 20, 1927 at 61 years old.[20][21] He has paintings at Museo del Prado and Museo de Málaga. His painting The Beheading of Saint Paul is in a preferred place at the Malaga Cathedral.[22] Since he was also devoted to decorative painting and landscape, among his surviving works which stand out are the four large canvases on Allegories of Law in the Palace of Justice in Barcelona and Allegories of the Eight Provinces in the Palace of Justice in Madrid.[23]

Paintings

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Simonet Lombardo, Enrique - Museo Nacional del Prado". www.museodelprado.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2024-06-19. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  2. ^ a b c Palomo Díaz, Francisco José (1980). "Vida y obra de Enrique Simonet Lombardo" (PDF). www.cedma.es (in Spanish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  3. ^ "Enrique Simonet". www.epdlp.com. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  4. ^ a b "Enrique Simonet Lombardo". FamilySearch. Retrieved June 18, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Guerrero, Teresa Sauret (October 2010). Diez obras emblemáticas de Enrique Simonet (in Spanish). Museo Nacional del Prado. ISBN 978-84-92633-31-9.
  6. ^ "Enrique Simonet y Baca, the artist's father". Museo del Prado. Retrieved June 18, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "III Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries, Barcelona. First Class medal 1896". Museo del Prado. Retrieved June 17, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Álvarez, Mireia Ferrer (2009). "The Dramatisation of Death in the Second Half of the 19th Century. The Paris Morgue and Anatomy Painting" (PDF). Faces of Death: Visualising History. pp. 163–87. ISBN 978-88-8492-651-7.
  9. ^ "Enrique Simonet" (PDF). Faces of death: visualising history. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-30.
  10. ^ a b c Hoakley (August 8, 2016). "Into the Light: Enrique Simonet, Death and the countryside, up to 1900". The Electric Light Company. Retrieved June 17, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ a b "Into the Light: Enrique Simonet, Death and the countryside, up to 1900". The Eclectic Light Company. 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  12. ^ "Flevit super illam". Museo Del Prado.
  13. ^ "DIEZ OBRAS EMBLEMÁTICAS DE ENRIQUE SIMONET". www.lahornacina.com. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  14. ^ "Simonet Lombardo, Enrique - Colección - Museo Nacional del Prado". www.museodelprado.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2024-11-27. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  15. ^ Palomo Díaz, Francisco José (1980). Estudio de la obra de Enrique Simonet Lombardo (PDF) (30 ed.). JABEGA Magazine. pp. 41–56.
  16. ^ Cohard, Juan López (2022-07-16). "Un óleo titulado Marrakech". Málaga Hoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  17. ^ a b c "Asunción Castro Crespo, the painter's wife". Museo del Prado. Retrieved June 18, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ a b c d e Hoakley (August 10, 2016). "Into the Light: Enrique Simonet, Death and the countryside, after 1900". The Electric Light Company. Retrieved June 17, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "Enrique Simonet archivos". Asociación Española de Pintores y Escultores (in Spanish). 2020-10-02. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  20. ^ a b c Lane, Jim (October 13, 2015). "Enrique Simonet". Art Now and Then. Retrieved June 17, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ^ ""Anatomía del corazón" 1890, Enrique simonet lombardo (1866-1927)". Revista Médica Clínica Las Condes (in Spanish). 23 (6): 791. 2012-11-01. doi:10.1016/S0716-8640(12)70385-1. ISSN 0716-8640.
  22. ^ "The beheading of Saint Paul in Málaga's Cathedral". Aleteia. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  23. ^ Proyectos, HI Iberia Ingeniería y. "Real Academia de la Historia | Historia Hispánica". historia-hispanica.rah.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-04.
[edit]
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Enrique Simonet at Wikimedia Commons
  • Biography at Museo del Prado (in Spanish)
  • About Flevit super illam (in Spanish)
  • About Anatomy of the heart (may first have to click second image in first row here to see it)
  • About Judgement of Paris (in Spanish)
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