“Leisure Moments”
Today, we have one from a Peruvian artist who was academically trained in Europe.
“Leisure Moments” is a lovely oil on panel painting by Daniel Hernández Morillo. It is undated but believed to have been made sometime between 1874 and 1900.
In this painting, a woman is seated on a garden bench. She is working on some craft with her hands, likely tatting. She is spending her leisure time as many women of some status did in their day, with a handicraft. The woman is dressed in a summery white dress with a blue ribbon adorning her swept up hair. Her sun hat hangs languidly from the back of the park bench. Several pink roses in bloom decorate the greenery of the background. The angle of the park bench along the path brings the viewer’s eye up towards the right, where the path is seen turning a corner.
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.
“Leisure Moments” is currently in a private collection.
For more on Daniel Hernández Morillo, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
