Gallant Scene. Daniel Hernandez. Peru.

Daniel Hernández Morillo, known as Daniel Hernandez, born in Huancavelica (province of Tayacaja) in 1856 and died in Lima in 1932, is a major Peruvian painter whose work covers several styles, from genre painting to academic painting and then impressionism, before arriving at a very personal style. An excellent portraitist, his works of the last two decades erase the label of "academic painter" that art critics had attached to him. His artistic education began at the age of 14, in the studio of the painter Leonard9 Barbieri. In 1872, his painting The Death of Socrates earned him the esteem of the artistic authorities and a scholarship from the government of Manuel Prado, of which he would only receive a part: President Pardo would be assassinated on November 16, 1878. This did not prevent Daniel Hernandez from leaving for Europe. He first stayed in Rome where he studied classical painting for ten years, then in Paris where he lived until 1917. He then became friends with Spanish orientalists: Mariano Fortuny, Francisco Padilla y Ortiz, Villegas, before becoming president of the "Society of Spanish Painters Resident in Paris". A historical painter, portraitist, his style oscillates between preciousness and a riot of colors. Rewarded in 1899 at the Universal Exhibition in Paris for his famous painting The Lazy Woman and in 1900 for Cruel Love and the Lazy Woman, Hernandez revealed himself to be a "great admirer of feminine beauty". In 1918, he returned to his native country where he would hold the position of director of the Superior School of Fine Arts of Peru until his death; the indigenous painter José Sabogal would succeed him in this position. Although considered an academic painter, Hernandez was greatly influenced by the Impressionist movement, which he would be an ardent promoter of in his country. Daniel Hernandez also illustrated a large number of works by great authors, including The Village Priest, Lost Illusions, and The Country Doctor by Honoré Balzac. Engraving is available in Lima, Peru.