Daniel Hernández Morillo
Daniel Hernández Morillo was a Peruvian artist who worked in the Academic style who lived from 1856 to 1932. His esteemed reputation and artistic ability led him to an appointment to serve as the very first director of the National School of Fine Arts, Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, in Lima, Peru. Morillo is remembered for his beautiful female portraits depicting women at leisure.
Morillo was born in Huancavelica, Peru, to a Spanish landowner and Peruvian mother. By the early age of 4, Morillo was already exhibiting advanced art skills. In 1870, at fourteen years old, he began his formal art training as an apprentice to the Italian portrait artist, Leonardo Barbieri. Morillo’s artistic talent was recognized regionally at an early age, at sixteen years old, after completing his own painted rendition of the “Death of Socrates”. In 1874, Morillo received a scholarship from the Peruvian government that allowed him to continue his art studies abroad in Europe.
After landing in Paris for a few months, Morillo soon left for Rome, Italy after the suggestion of fellow Peruvian artist, Ignacio Merino. He spent nine years studying the art of the Renaissance masters at the Art Academy in Rome under the tutelage of Lorenzo Vallés, the Spanish history painter. In 1880, Morillo returned to Paris to continue his work. In 1883 he was elected the President of the Sociedad de Pintores Españoles, a group made up of Spanish speaking artists.
Morillo did quite well in Europe. His academic art style was very successful and well-received in the more traditional European salons. In 1900 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, Morillo was awarded the gold medal. In 1901, he was awarded the Legion of Honour medal by the French government, which was the highest accolade in that country. By this time, he had cemented his widespread critical recognition. Morillo remained in Paris until after the end of the Great War.
In 1919, Daniel Hernández Morillo decided to move back home to Lima, Peru. He devoted most of his time teaching art as the first director of the National School of Fine Arts which opened in 1919 in Lima. He used his financial gains from painting to help support the models and teachers that worked at his school. Although he continued to paint, Morillo continued to work at the school until his death in 1932 at the age of 76, after suffering from a long illness of the lungs.
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