Calle de Alcalá, 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando
Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild
Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild
Calle de Alcalá, 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando
Joaquin Manuel Fernandez Cruzado was born on December 24, 1781, in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. He was a son of José Fernández Guerrero who worked as a sculptor and taught at the School of Fine Arts of Cádiz.
His parents moved to Cádiz while Joaquin was a baby. The artist spent his childhood and adolescence in the city.
Joaquin Manuel Fernandez Cruzado started his education at the San Bartolomé Seminary of Cádiz. In 1789, Joaquin entered the School of Fine Arts of Cádiz. Cruzado studied as well the human anatomy and surgery at the Royal College of Surgery and Medicine.
To pursue his artistic training, Joaquin Manuel Fernandez went to Madrid where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1808. One of his teachers at the institution was Gregorio Ferro.
Joaquin Manuel Fernandez Cruzado started his career from the military service during the Peninsular War which he joined in 1808. In 1819, he obtained the rank of Captain.
Cruzado returned to his native Cádiz in 1824 and became a professor of painting at the School of Fine Arts two years later. The artist had held the position for twenty years when he succeeded the director of the School Manuel Roca.
While on the post, Cruzado took an active part at various educational and cultural projects, such as the creation of the Provincial Museum of Cádiz.
As to the painting activity, Joaquin Manuel Fernandez Cruzado produced the majority of his paintings during the 1850s.
Joaquin Manuel Fernandez Cruzado was a prolific painter of the 19th century who portrayed many notable personalities of the time, including the King of Spain Fernando VII, the Queen of Spain Isabella II, a botanist José Celestino Mutis and others.
Nowadays, the heritage of Joaquin Manuel Fernandez Cruzado is preserved in the Museum of Romanticism in Madrid, the Museums of Fine Arts of Bilbao and Cádiz. The artist’s creations are also held by many private collectors in Spain, United States and South America.
Portrait of José Celestino Mutis
Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel at Cádiz Cathedral
Self-portrait
Portrait of a Woman
Portrait of Josefa of Corte de Gargollo
A Pass with a Crutch
Appearance of the Bull
Major Mass in an Andalusian Church
Portrait of Man
Portrait of José Benjumeda y Gens
Little Queen Isabel II and Her Mother, María Cristina de Borbón
