As with many Sevillian painters of his time, his biography revolves around that city, where he studied with Francisco Gutiérrez at the School of Fine Arts and was taught to admire Murillo; and Madrid, where he moved in 1831, thanks to the patronage of the British consul in Seville. The following year, he was named academician of merit by the Academy of San Fernando, and once he had settled at court, he began making a place for himself in that city’s art market, becoming a part of local art circles by helping to found cultural organisations, making contact with writers, and even writing art criticism himself. His interest in the arts and letters made him a typical representative of Romanticism, and this is visible in paintings such as Ventura de la Vega Reading a Work at the Teatro del Príncipe (Museo del Romanticismo, Madrid) and The Contemporary Poets, A Reading of Zorrilla at the Painter’s Studio (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid).
He was one of the founders of Madrid’s Liceo Artístico y Literario in 1837, and the following year, he travelled to Seville to organize the Liceo Sevillano. There he became blind, but with the help of his friends, painters and writers, he was able to travel abroad, where his condition was cured in June 1840. The following year, he returned to his brilliant career in Madrid and two years later he was appointed court painter. In 1847, he was promoted to full membership of the Academy of San Fernando. His interest in participating in local art events is exemplified by his presence in 1856, just a year before his death, in the first National Exhibition of Fine Arts. Esquivel exercised influence on the art scene in Madrid through both his teaching and his Tratado de anatomía pictórica (Treatise on Pictorial Anatomy), first published in 1848.
He was a prolific painter, and while his catalogue includes a considerable variety of genres, his speciality was portraiture. Queens, infantas, politicians, soldiers, noblemen, the bourgeoisie and writers are the models for his individual and group portraits, and they allow us to recognise the protagonists of Romanticism in Madrid, as well as the middle and upper classes of his time. He produced a smaller number of religious paintings, with early works clearly indebted to Murillo and an evolution towards chromatic and compositional simplicity that approaches the work of the Nazarenes. He also painted historical and mythological images, as well as a few costumbrista works set in his native city, and even a few erotic paintings — something infrequent among Spanish painters of the time.
As with many Sevillian painters of his time, his biography revolves around that city, where he studied with Francisco Gutiérrez at the School of Fine Arts and was taught to admire Murillo; and Madrid, where he moved in 1831, thanks to the patronage of the British consul in Seville. The following year, he was named academician of merit by the Academy of San Fernando, and once he had settled at court, he began making a place for himself in that city’s art market, becoming a part of local art circles by helping to found cultural organisations, making contact with writers, and even writing art criticism himself. His interest in the arts and letters made him a typical representative of Romanticism, and this is visible in paintings such as Ventura de la Vega Reading a Work at the Teatro del Príncipe (Museo del Romanticismo, Madrid) and The Contemporary Poets, A Reading of Zorrilla at the Painter’s Studio (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid).
He was one of the founders of Madrid’s Liceo Artístico y Literario in 1837, and the following year, he travelled to Seville to organize the Liceo Sevillano. There he became blind, but with the help of his friends, painters and writers, he was able to travel abroad, where his condition was cured in June 1840. The following year, he returned to his brilliant career in Madrid and two years later he was appointed court painter. In 1847, he was promoted to full membership of the Academy of San Fernando. His interest in participating in local art events is exemplified by his presence in 1856, just a year before his death, in the first National Exhibition of Fine Arts. Esquivel exercised influence on the art scene in Madrid through both his teaching and his Tratado de anatomía pictórica (Treatise on Pictorial Anatomy), first published in 1848.
He was a prolific painter, and while his catalogue includes a considerable variety of genres, his speciality was portraiture. Queens, infantas, politicians, soldiers, noblemen, the bourgeoisie and writers are the models for his individual and group portraits, and they allow us to recognise the protagonists of Romanticism in Madrid, as well as the middle and upper classes of his time. He produced a smaller number of religious paintings, with early works clearly indebted to Murillo and an evolution towards chromatic and compositional simplicity that approaches the work of the Nazarenes. He also painted historical and mythological images, as well as a few costumbrista works set in his native city, and even a few erotic paintings — something infrequent among Spanish painters of the time.