Serafín Avendaño Facts for Kids

Serafín Avendaño (from the magazine Blanco y Negro).

Serafín Avendaño's signature on his painting "Landscape with River".

Serafín Xoaquín Avendaño Martínez (born October 12, 1838 – died August 23, 1916) was a talented painter from Galicia, Spain. He was especially known for his beautiful landscape paintings, which show natural scenes like rivers, lakes, and mountains. He also painted "genre" art, which means pictures of everyday life. Serafín Avendaño lived in Italy for many years, where he developed his unique painting style.

Who Was Serafín Avendaño?
A Look at His Art
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Who Was Serafín Avendaño?

Serafín Avendaño was born in Vigo, a city in Spain. His father was a professor, which meant his family had a good education and some money. When Serafín was still very young, his family moved to Madrid, the capital of Spain.

Early Life and Art Training

In Madrid, Serafín started his art journey. He took his first art lessons at a famous school called the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Here, he learned from important teachers like Antonio María Esquivel and Jenaro Pérez Villaamil.

In 1858, Serafín won a silver medal at an art show called the Exposición de Galiza. He won it for his watercolor painting titled "A miña tristura," which means "My Sadness." At first, his landscape paintings were a bit darker, influenced by a painter named Carlos de Haes. But over time, Serafín's paintings became much brighter and full of light.

Traveling and Learning in Italy

Because his family had money, Serafín was able to travel a lot in the 1860s. He visited many different countries, including the United States, where he painted the amazing Niagara Falls. He also went to England, France, and Switzerland.

In 1864, he won another medal at a very important art show in Spain, the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. Two years later, in 1866, he received a special grant (like a scholarship) that allowed him to go to Italy to study art even more. He loved Italy so much that he stayed there for a long time, until 1891!

Most of his time in Italy was spent near the city of Genoa. There, he became part of a group of local landscape painters known as the "Scuola di Rivara." Even though he lived in Italy, he would sometimes travel back to Spain to show his paintings in different exhibitions and to help with his family's property near Vigo.

Later Career and Legacy

After returning to Spain in 1891, Serafín Avendaño continued his successful career. He was asked to be a judge on several art juries, helping to decide which artists won awards. He also created drawings and pictures for a popular magazine called Blanco y Negro from 1893 to 1911.

He won two more medals at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, one in 1892 and another in 1899. Eventually, he retired to a city called Valladolid, where he passed away in 1916 due to an illness. Even after his death, many exhibitions of his beautiful paintings were held in Italy, continuing into the 1930s.