JOSÉ CAMARÓN BORONAT (Segorbe, Castellón, 1731 - Valencia, 1803).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It has restorations.
It has a 19th century frame.
Measurements: 75,5 x 45 cm; 82 x 52 cm (frame).
Pair of oil on canvas representing scenes from the Old Testament, perhaps probably referring to the life of Joseph, son of Jacob. This theory can be reinforced by the inscription on one of the paintings "Dedit illi Pharao", which means that the pharaoh orders it. Both pieces have a similar format, based on verticality and a very fluid and sinuous aesthetic finish that can be seen especially in the treatment of the canvases and the elongation of the anatomy.
A painter, engraver and illustrator, José Camarón Boronat was one of the most outstanding Valencian painters of the second half of the 18th century. He came from a family of artists and was the father of the painter José Camarón Meliá. He began his training with his father, the sculptor Nicolás Camarón, and continued his studies under the guidance of his uncle Eliseus Camarón, a painter of miniatures who taught him virtuoso detail. Later, for a brief period, he studied with the Rococo painter Miguel Posadas. In 1749 he moved to Valencia, where he remained until 1752, when he went to Madrid to complete his training. It is thought that he attended the workshop of the Valencian painter Francisco Bonay and perhaps the classes at the San Fernando Academy, where Corrado Giaquinto left his mark on his style. In his first period, Camarón Boronat devoted himself to landscape painting, miniatures and copies of Baroque masters such as Titian, Rubens, Van Dyck and Murillo. In 1754 he returned to Valencia, where he was appointed professor of painting at the recently created Academy of Santa Bárbara. Years later, in 1762, the San Fernando Academy in Madrid accepted him as a member of merit, and in 1768 he was among the founders of the San Carlos Academy, where he was first professor of painting and later director general. Camarón Boronat was a good teacher and a prolific painter, who worked in all genres: he produced numerous religious and secular paintings, allegories, portraits, landscapes and seascapes. He also covered a wide range of techniques, from easel painting and miniatures to fresco and pastel, so important in the Rococo period. His religious commissions include the twenty altarpieces he painted in the 1980s for Valencia cathedral and his series of San Francisco el Grande in Madrid. However, it was his genre themes that were the most successful and innovative part of his oeuvre; his paintings of this type are notable for their festive character and stylised figures, from which emanates a Spanish-style Rococo charm, built up by means of careful brushstrokes and cheerful tones. Camarón Boronat also produced numerous drawings for prints, some of which he engraved himself, such as the thirty-one plates for the 1777 edition of Don Quixote. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Lázaro Galdiano in Madrid and the National Library, among other public and private collections.