Manuel Benedito Vives

Valencia, 1875 - Madrid, 1963

Like many painters from Valencia in the late nineteenth century, he commenced his studies at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in his home town. There, under the guidance of Salvá y Vilá, he learned his craft and developed a polished style, a constant quality in all of the techniques he used in his painting (oil, tempera, watercolour and gouache) or his less well-known work as an illustrator or painter of cartoons for tapestries.

He started work at the studio of Joaquín Sorolla in 1894 and moved to Madrid with him in 1896, when his first illustrations were published in "La revista moderna" and "Blanco y Negro".

From 1900 to 1904, thanks to the scholarship he won for his work "El forn de Benicalap", he furthered his studies at the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He later travelled in France, Belgium and Holland before settling in the Dutch city of Volendam in 1909.

His work had by then won myriad awards and honours at exhibitions such as the National Fine Arts Exhibition (1897), National Painting Exhibitions (1904, 1906 and 1910), the Hispano-French Exhibition (1908) and International Exhibitions of Munich (1905 and 1910), Barcelona (1907) and Brussels (1911), the latter being the last time Manuel Benedito entered a competitive exhibition.

He won much critical and public acclaim for his individual exhibitions at Sala Amaré (1907) and the Blanco y Negro exhibition halls (1910) in Madrid, and in cities such as Valencia, Barcelona and Zaragoza.

Una Once he had settled in Holland and reached maturity, he focused his creativity on producing portraits, hunting still lifes, costumbrista scenes and landscapes.

It was then that he began the first of what were to be his seven contributions to the UEE Collection. His creations encompassed all the themes in Spain’s most traditional calendar’s iconography: mine workers (1909), scenes of bourgeois children (1910 and 1913) and hunting as a leisure activity (1911 and 1913), as well as the representation of the prevailing tastes in female beauty (1917 and 1930).

He was a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts (of which he also became director) and the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia. He was also appointed advisor to the Royal Tapestry Factory (1918), Knight of the French Legion of Honour (1919), Correspondent Member of the Hispanic Society of York (1925) and member of the National Fine Arts Academy of Lisbon (1935), as well as receiving the prestigious Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, one of the highest distinctions awarded by the Spanish state.

Having started under his wing, the name of Manuel Benedito continued to be associated with that of Sorolla, firstly because he replaced him as professor of colour and composition at the San Fernando Royal Academy and secondly because in 1941 he was appointed chairman of the board of the Sorolla Museum in Madrid.

1909 Manuel Benedito Vives At rest Gouache on paper 53 x 29 cm.	1910 Manuel Benedito Vives Firecrackers Chromolithograph 52 x 27,50 cm.

1911 Manuel Benedito Vives Lady hunting Watercolour and gouache on paper 97 x 54 cm.	1913 Manuel Benedito Vives Among flowers Gouache on paper 63 x 34,50 cm.

1917 Manuel Benedito Vives Brunette with blue eyes Lithograph 56 x 35 cm.	1918 Manuel Benedito Vives Hunter and owl Gouache on paper 51 x 35 cm.	1930 Manuel Benedito Vives Woman holding a shotgun Gouache on paper 48,50 x 35,50 cm.