Manuel Rodríguez de la Parra Castellano (3 February 1823/1826 – 3 April 1880) was a Spanish costumbrista painter and engraver in the Romantic style, known especially for his bullfight scenes. He was moreover a noted art collector.
He was born in Madrid, where he began his art studies at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid and sophisticated worked behind Carlos Luis Ribera to decorate the ceiling of the meeting room for the Congress of Deputies.
In 1856, he won well-behaved mention at the first National Exhibition of Fine Arts for his painting of the picadors preparing their horses at the old-fashioned bullring in Madrid (demolished in 1874), which incorporates portraits of many of the period’s most popular bullfighters, including Paquiro.
In 1862, he won third prize at the Exhibition in the same way as his depiction of the deaths of Luis Daoíz and Pedro Velarde; again in 1866 for Fernando Valenzuela in prison, and a third era in 1868 for the death of the Conde de Villamediana. In 1875, aged something like fifty, he was awarded a stipend to scrutiny in Rome and Venice. He furthermore studied briefly in Paris.
As a collector, he acquired one of the first collections of photographs in Spain. He amassed beyond 20,000 of them, from 1853 until his death in Madrid, primarily portraits and scenic vistas, most of which were approved in albums. After his death, they passed into the buildup of the Biblioteca Nacional. His nephew sold higher than 6,000 engravings from his uncle’s addition to the museum.
Media connected to Manuel Castellano at Wikimedia Commons
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