Gonzalo Bilbao Martínez

Sevilla, 1860 - Madrid, 1938.

A disciple of Pedro de la Vega, he began his career in drawing while at the same time studying law and music. Having completed his academic training in 1880, he moved to Rome to study at the Spanish Academy. In Rome, he visited the studio of José Villegas and met the eclectic Vicente Palmaroli.

His restless spirit took him to Naples, Venice and Paris before returning to Spain and filling his canvases with scenes of Seville, Toledo and Segovia, the cities which inspired him most. In his bid to develop his imagination and capture eastern scenes, then at the height of fashion in Spanish painting, he travelled through Morocco in search of inspiration.

His work is divided into two equal parts between “costumbrista“ scenes of Seville, such as the oil paintings which in 1921 and 1922 illustrated the UEE calendars, and landscapes.

The third prize which he obtained at the Paris World Fair in 1889 was the start of what became a succession of accolades and awards at both national and international level: Chicago (1893), Barcelona (1896), Munich (1905), Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile (1910), San Francisco (1915) and Panama (1916).

Gonzalo Bilbao also received all kinds of highly prestigious political and academic distinctions, including the Grand Cross of Isabel la Católica, the Cross of Alfonso XII, the Commendation of Carlos III and the title of Knight Commander of the French Legion of Honour.

In 1903 he became a professor at the Seville Fine Arts School, and he later became chairman of the Seville Academy. In 1935, the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts appointed him a numerary member, as did the Academies of Bordeaux, Toledo and San Luis de Zaragoza. Lastly, he was named Correspondent Member of l’Institut de France in Paris.

When he died, most of his works were donated to the Provincial Fine Arts Museum in Seville. Gonzalo Bilbao kept very close ties with this institution throughout his life, and had been chairman of its board for several years.

1921 Gonzalo Bilbao In the wheatfield Oil on canvas 60,50 x 36,50 cm.	1922 Gonzalo Bilbao The fertility Oil on canvas 62 x 37,50 cm.