Martín Tovar y Tovar

Martín Tovar y Tovar (10 February 1827, Caracas - 17 December 1902, Caracas) was a Venezuelan painter, best known for his portraits and historical scenes.

His father, Antonio Maria Tovar, was a former official of the Spanish government who had retired after receiving a serious bullet wound during the War of Independence. His mother, Damiana Tovar Liendo, was from Caracas. The family had been living in exile in Puerto Rico, but returned to Venezuela immediately before Tovar's birth.

He received his first lessons from Celestino Martinez (1820-1855) who, at the age of nineteen, had just become an instructor at the "Academia de Dibujo" (Drawing Academy). Later, Tovar studied at the Academy itself with Antonio José Carranza (1817-1893) and at the "Colegio de La Paz" with Carmelo Fernández. In 1844, he joined with Fernández and two other artists to acquire a lithography workshop owned by German emigrants.

In 1850, he travelled to Spain and enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. There, he studied with José de Madrazo and his son, Federico de Madrazo, among others. In 1851, he opened a shop called "Fotografía Artística de Martín Tovar y Tovar", becoming one of his country's pioneer photographers. In 1852, he moved to Paris and found a position in the workshop of Léon Cogniet. Three years later, he returned to Venezuela, but stayed for only a year before going back to Paris to copy paintings by the major artists, with a view towards using them to establish a national museum in Caracas. His proposal was accepted, but a lack of funds kept it from being realized.

He continued to focus on portraits, however, and participated in several exhibitions, including the International Exposition (1867) in Paris. Two years later, he was appointed Director of the "Academia de Bellas Artes" in Caracas. In 1872, he exhibited at the "Primera Exposición Anual de Bellas Artes Venezolanas", organized by the explorers James Mudie Spence (1836-1878) and Anton Goering (who was also a painter).

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