Artists
Luis Melendez
- Country:
- Spain
- Birth year:
- 1716
- Death year:
- 1780
The full name of Luis Melendez (1716 Naples-1780 Madrid), born to an Italian mother and Spanish father, is Luis Egidio Melendez de Rivera Durazoy Santo Padre. In 1717 the entire family emigrated to Spain, where the young Melendez first trained with his father, Francisco Antonio Melendez, a painter of royal miniatures, and later with Louis Michael van Loo. Because of bad behavior on the part of his father, the young artist, who had aimed at a career as a painter of historical works and portraits, was excluded from membership of the Academy of San Fernando. Between 1748 and 1752 he lived in Naples and Rome, and upon his return to Madrid he worked as a miniaturist because there was no market for his still life paintings. Only after Melendez had completed a series of 44 still lifes between 1760 and 1773 for the Castle of Aranjuez did he begin to receive a greater number of commissions. Although Melendez was one of the most significant 18th-century Spanish still-life painters. he died completely impoverished. The artist's important works include Self-Portrait, 1746, Musee du Louvre, Paris, Still Life with Porgies and Oranges, 1772, Museo del Prado, Madrid; and Still Life with Salmon and Lemons, 1772, Museo del Prado, Madrid.