Carmelo Fernández Páez: The master of drawing in Venezuela (+seeding)

On February 9, 1887, the Venezuelan engineer, soldier, draftsman, lithographer and watercolourist, Carmelo Fernández Páez, who was born in San José de Guama, Yaracuy state, died.

His parents were the Spaniard José María Fernández and a sister of General José Antonio Páez named Luisa. As a nephew of General Páez, he became familiar as a child with the events and the presence of the protagonists of the Spanish-American wars of independence.

He stood out, because he drew the equestrian image of Páez lithographed in color by himself, the first of its kind printed in the country. In 1848 he moved to Colombia, and the following year he gave private drawing classes and at the military schools of Santo Tomás y del Espírito Santo.

He was also incorporated by Agustín Codazzi, as a draftsman in the Chorographic Commission of New Granada, Colombia (1850-51); and he toured Tunja, Tundama, Ocaña, Socorro, Soto and Vélez. At the end of 1858, he returned to Venezuela and to Puerto Cabello, Edo. Carabobo, requested his retirement.

In Maracaibo, he carried out the remodeling project of Plaza La Concordia, work carried out between 1872 and 1873. He then traveled to Germany to oversee the work of making the railing and four sculptures for the square. In 1872, at the First Annual Exhibition of Venezuelan Fine Arts organized by James Mudie Spence, at Café del Ávila, Caracas, he presented the equestrian portrait of Antonio Guzmán Blanco.

He then lived in Europe for four years and returned to Venezuela, where he was part of the founding members of the Academy of Drawing and Painting of the Institute of Fine Arts.

Mazo News Team