(b Islay, Arequipa, 1867; d Neuilly-sur-Seine, 20 Feb 1941). Peruvian painter and draughtsman. His family moved to Chile when he was four, and in 1882 he entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Santiago. In recognition of his rejection of an offer of Chilean nationality, the Peruvian government invited him to Lima in 1887 to assist him with his studies. In 1890 he went to Paris, continuing on to Rome where he studied under Francisco Pradilla at the Academia Española de Bellas Artes and again in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant at the Académie Julien in 1893. In Paris he was commissioned to paint important society and government figures; in 1908 the American banker and collector J. Pierpont Morgan summoned him to New York, where he lived for 20 years, painting 120 portraits. In 1926 he became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris and three years later he settled in Paris again. His painting was academically accomplished and realist in style, influenced by Leonardo, Rembrandt and Hans Holbein. He was a careful observer of detail, and he achieved astonishing physical resemblance to his subjects. The prominent figures he portrayed include Cardinal Bonzano and the future Irish prime minister Eamon de Valera (both c. 1909; Lima, Mus. A.). Some works show a more impressionistic style, such as Girl with Chrysanthemums (Lima, Mus. A.). He painted some religious scenes and landscapes and was also an accomplished draughtsman, as shown by Female Nude and John Morgan (Lima, Mus. A.).

• Baca Flor, Carlos
  • Tabard, Maurice