Luis Paret y Alcázar was the son of a French father and Spanish mother. He studied at the San Fernando Academy. He travelled to Rome under the patronage of Don Luis de Borbón in 1763 and remained there for three years to complete his literary and artistic education. On his return, in 1766, he garnered awards at the Academy and probably delved into the study of the French art of that time under Charles de la Traverse, who was then in Madrid. His fame and prestige grew from 1770 onwards; he was part of the entourage of Crown Prince Don Luis and was involved in scandals concerned with his promiscuity, which saw the painter exiled to Puerto Rico (1775-1778). On his return he was still exiled from the court, so he worked in Bilbao, where he married and produced a series of views of local ports. He consequently received a royal pardon and returned to Madrid in 1787, where he was finally admitted to the Academy, to which he had been elected in 1780, and went on to become its deputy secretary.
A multi-faceted main and a great connoisseur of European art of his time, he was perhaps the most Rococo of all Spanish artists and also displayed a certain elegant neo-Classicism.
Luis Paret y Alcázar was the son of a French father and Spanish mother. He studied at the San Fernando Academy. He travelled to Rome under the patronage of Don Luis de Borbón in 1763 and remained there for three years to complete his literary and artistic education. On his return, in 1766, he garnered awards at the Academy and probably delved into the study of the French art of that time under Charles de la Traverse, who was then in Madrid. His fame and prestige grew from 1770 onwards; he was part of the entourage of Crown Prince Don Luis and was involved in scandals concerned with his promiscuity, which saw the painter exiled to Puerto Rico (1775-1778). On his return he was still exiled from the court, so he worked in Bilbao, where he married and produced a series of views of local ports. He consequently received a royal pardon and returned to Madrid in 1787, where he was finally admitted to the Academy, to which he had been elected in 1780, and went on to become its deputy secretary.
A multi-faceted main and a great connoisseur of European art of his time, he was perhaps the most Rococo of all Spanish artists and also displayed a certain elegant neo-Classicism.