Ricardo Bellver
Ricardo Bellver was a Spanish sculptor.
Biography
Bellver studied at the Real Academia de [Bellas Artes de San Fernando|Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando] and finished his sculptural education in Rome as a grant holder.He became well known because of his sculpture The Fallen Angel, a work inspired by a passage from John Milton's Paradise Lost, and which represents Lucifer falling from Heaven. The sculpture, of great dramatism and originality, was awarded the first-place medal at the Spanish National Fine Arts Exhibition in 1878, and the same year it was cast in bronze for the third Paris World's Fair. Later on, the Prado Museum donated it to the City of Madrid, and in 1885 it was installed in a square with the same name in the Retiro Park. For that purpose, architect Francisco Jareño designed a pedestal of granite, bronze and stone. The success of this work made Bellver been accepted as academician. He was director of the Arts and Works School in Madrid.
Other works of Bellver are in the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great, the Seville Cathedral, Saint Joseph Church in Madrid, Saint Isidore Cemetery and the Palacio de Fomento building in Madrid.
Image:AngelCaido.jpg|thumb|The Fallen Angel, in Madrid, cast in bronze for the third Paris World's Fair.
Works
- Saint Ines Burial in the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great, Madrid.
- The Fallen Angel,, in Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid.
- Saint Agatha death, bas-relief.
- Saint Expeditus carving, in San Vicente Martir de Abando Church.
- Juan Sebastián Elcano Statue in Mayor Hall Square in Guetaria.
- Neogotical doors of Seville cathedral.
- Funerary monument of Luis de la Lastra y Cuesta, Seville Cathedral, Capilla del Cristo de Maracaibo.
- Saint Bartolomew and Saint Andrew, in the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great, Madrid.
- Monument to Goya, Donoso Cortés, Moratín and Meléndez Valdés, Saint Isidore Cemetery, Madrid.
- Cardinal Siliceo sepulchre at the Real Colegio de Doncellas Nobles.