The Work of Sculptor Ricardo Bellver

Abstract

The research project (whose original title was The First Generation of Sculptors from the Rome Academy. Catalogue-Inventory which was funded by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid through a grant for precompetitive groups), represents and exhaustive study that verifies and brings up to date information on the work of the sculptor Ricardo Bellver y Ramón. On one hand, the study locates the artistic context of the era, that is, around 1874, when the sculptor was given a pension by the Academy, and relates the complex beginnings of the founding of the Roma academy and regulations which helped preserve pensions, and on the other hand, it documents the life and work of the sculptor Ricardo Bellver, twenty of whose works have been found, although another eighteen have been described in documents to a lesser or greater extent. Among the works are monuments, busts, religious images sculptural groups, found in different Spanish cities, and the study describes their current condition, analyses the causes for the loss of some pieces and even refutes part of the most recent information published on them.