Ulpiano Checa y Sanz | Orientalist painter

Ulpiano Checa y Sanz (1860-1916) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, poster designer and illustrator, known in the art world as Ulpiano Fernández-Checa y Saiz.

He used both impressionistic and academic techniques, and painted mainly historical subjects.

Checa participated in numerous Salons of Paris and in many of them was awarded.

He studied at the Academy of fine arts of San Fernando in Madrid, where he was student of Federico de Madrazo, Alejandro Ferrant, Manuel Domínguez and Pablo Gonzalvo.

In 1873, he entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid and the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, where he would paint "Invasion of the Barbarians" (disappeared in a fire) which won the gold medal National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1887.

In 1884 he obtained a pension to travel to Rome, where he remained until he settles in Paris around 1890.

From this moment, it will develop his career in France, being almost unknown in Spain, except with regard to the picture the invasion of the barbarians, awarded with Medal of first class in the national exhibition of 1887 and returned to reward in the Vienna from 1888, and today destroyed, although we retain from it a sketch and a photograph in black and white reproduction is not enough to not regret its loss.

The table presents a violent ride that passes before the stairs of a temple under a rainy sky.

In this way, the invasion, fairly frequent error in historical painting of the 19th, is not described but it is felt the violence of the fact in the rapiez printed a group of riders, that contrasts violently with the classical serenity of the Roman building that pass.

Much of the work of Czech is devoted, as the own the Invasion, painting groups of large dimensions in which figures of horses have important role.

It is the case of pictures as "Racing cars Roman" (1890), "Attila and the Huns" (1891); "The Redskins" (1893), "The ravine of Waterloo" (1895), "Gallic Rapture" (1897), "The Arab fantasy" (1898), "Horses in the trough" (1903) or "Between two oasis" (1911).

He is also the author of scenes of character classic as the Saturnal, "Las Amazonas or _ltimos moments of Pompeii".

He held several exhibitions in France, where he earned the third medal at the 1889 Paris Universal and the Medal of the Legion of Honor with "The Rank of Knight", in 1894.

He devoted himself also to the illustration of books and magazines such as la Vie de Napoleon. Also, published a treatise of perspective in French and made several sculptural works in which reproduced the most outstanding figures of his best-known paintings.

Ulpiano Checa y Sanz (1860-1916) è stato un pittore, scultore, disegnatore ed illustratore Spagnolo, noto nel mondo dell'arte come Ulpiano Fernández-Checa y Saiz.

Ha usato tecniche impressioniste ed accademiche e ha dipinto principalmente soggetti storici.

Ha studiato all'Accademia di belle arti di San Fernando a Madrid, dove è stato allievo di Federico de Madrazo, Alejandro Ferrant, Manuel Domínguez e Pablo Gonzalvo.

Nel 1873, entrò nella Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando a Madrid e presso l'Accademia spagnola di belle arti a Roma, dove dipinse "Invasion of the Barbarians" (scomparso in un incendio) che vinse la medaglia d'oro gold Mostra Nazionale di Belle arti nel 1887.

Nel 1884 ottenne una pensione per recarsi a Roma, dove rimase fino a quando non si stabilì a Parigi intorno al 1890.

Da questo momento, svilupperà la sua carriera in Francia, essendo quasi sconosciuto in Spagna, tranne per quanto riguarda l'immagine dell'Invasione dei Barbari, premiata con la medaglia di prima classe nella mostra nazionale del 1887 e tornata ad essere premiare a Vienna dal 1888, ma oggi distrutto, sebbene ne conserviamo uno schizzo ed una fotografia in riproduzione in bianco e nero non è sufficiente per non rimpiangere la sua perdita.

Ha tenuto numerose mostre in Francia, dove ha ottenuto la terza medaglia alla Universal di Parigi del 1889 e la medaglia della Legione d'Onore con il grado di Cavaliere, nel 1894.

Si dedicò anche all'illustrazione di libri e riviste come la Vie de Napoleon.

Inoltre, pubblicò un trattato di prospettiva in francese e realizzò diverse opere scultoree in cui riproduceva le figure più straordinarie dei suoi dipinti più noti.