José de Madrazo y Agudo

In 1803 a young Spaniard turned up in the Paris studio of Jacques-Louis David, the painter of the French Revolution and Napoleon's chosen artist. José de Madrazo learned the severe Neoclassical manner there — clear line, antique subjects, the drama of ancient Rome — then went on to Rome itself on a government stipend to study classical art at first hand.

His large canvas 'The Death of Viriatus' shows the chieftain who led the Lusitanians of ancient Iberia against the Roman legions, found murdered in his tent by men his enemies had bribed. It became the most emblematic painting of Spanish Neoclassicism and hangs in the Prado today. Back in Madrid, Madrazo rose to royal chamber painter and later director of the Prado itself. He also founded a dynasty of painters: his sons Federico and Luis and his grandsons Raimundo and Ricardo all worked as artists, and Federico would in time run the Prado himself.