Virgilio Narcisse Diaz de la Peña (1807 - 1876)

Diaz’ parents came from Spain, and died early in political exile. The priest in the small village of Bellevue in the Paris "banlieue" took the orphan into his care in 1817. Diaz discovered the natural world, and lost a leg through a snake bite suffered on a woodland walk. He learned printing for a short time, then porcelain painting, which awakened his passion for (oil) painting. After serving an apprenticeship with François Souchon, he first exhibited his work in the 1831 Paris Salon, and continued to do so at regular intervals until 1859. His oeuvre comprises landscapes, still lifes, oriental scenes and history paintings.

Author: Ducke Astrid

Literature: Ducke Astrid, Habersatter Thomas (Hrsg./Edi.): von | from 0 auf | to 100. Residenzgalerie Salzburg 1923-2023. Salzburg 2023, S./p. 294