Fernando Alvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragosa

Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza was born in Galicia, Spain in 1875. A student of history painter and portraitist Manuel Domínguez y Sánchez, Sotomayor studied in Madrid at the San Fernando Academy. At the age of 24 he went to Italy, France, and Holland. With a gathering reputation as a bright young artist, on a visit to his native Galicia in 1905, his interest in the region was re-awakened. Thereafter his work centered on the essential truths to be found in the local communities, the moral strength of the people with whom he came into contact and the beauty of the local landscape. In 1907 he went to Chile where he became director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Santiago, until 1911. In 1929 he was appointed Director of the Prado, and thereafter Director of the Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid. He died in 1960.