MANUEL BENEDITO Y VIVES (Valencia, 1875 - Madrid, 1963). Untitled. Oil on canvas. Damage to the frame. Signed in the lower left corner. Size: 54 x 44,5 cm; 66 x 57,5 cm (frame). Benedito y Vives begins his training at the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia in 1888, where he studies under the direction of Salvá y Vilá, and in 1894 he enters the workshop of Joaquín Sorolla, who will be his main teacher. Two years later he travelled with him to Madrid, where he made illustrations for "La revista moderna" and "Blanco y Negro". He obtained a pension in Rome in 1900 and, after spending four years there, he travelled to France, Belgium and Holland, settling in Volendam in 1909. He produced portraits, still lifes, local types and landscapes, and his solo exhibitions included those held at the Sala Amaré in 1907 and at the "Blanco y Negro" salons in 1910. In 1918 he was appointed artistic advisor to the Royal Tapestry Factory and in 1923 a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Madrid) and the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts (Valencia). He taught at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts and later colour and composition at the San Fernando School, replacing his teacher Sorolla. He was subsequently appointed director of the Madrid School of Fine Arts. In 1925 he was appointed corresponding member of the Hispanic Society of America, corresponding member of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Lisbon, and in 1941 president of the board of trustees of the Sorolla Museum. After his death in 1963 the Casa-Museo Benedito was founded in Madrid. In his mature years he turned to portraiture; Alfonso XIII and Concha Piqué, among other prominent personalities of the time, posed for him. His awards include the first medals obtained at the National Fine Arts Exhibitions of 1904 and 1906; and the gold medals at the Hispano-French Exhibition of 1908, and at the International Exhibitions of Munich (1909), Brussels (1910), Buenos Aires (1910) and Barcelona (1911). Works by Manuel Benedito are held in the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia, Santander, Asturias, Havana and Buenos Aires and the Hispanic Society of America (New York), among others, and in prominent private collections such as the Jr. Sackar in Sydney.