Fernando Calderón Y López De Arroyabe (1928-2003) - Rope Wrestling

- Oil on canvas. Signed. - Fernando Calderón López de Arroyabe belonged to a lineage of artists for whom art and music punctuated daily life. From childhood, he forged a serene monumentality that captivated geniuses such as Picasso, Zuloaga, and Solana. Trained at the San Fernando Academy and refined his practice on the European stage, his painting sought not only faithful representation but also a timeless solemnity that reached its zenith at the Pantheon of the Dukes of Alba in Loeches. There, his brush, inspired by the muralists, unfurled an apotheosis of figures seemingly inhabiting a sacred silence, where the robustness of the forms—praised by Solana himself, who compared it to the mastery of Goya—coexists with profound introspection. This ability to capture grandeur without exaggeration earned him the Velázquez Chair at the Brazilian Academy of Fine Arts, an honor shared with figures of the stature of Henry Moore. His career, which spanned from costumes for the Ballets Russes to portraits of popes and monarchs, was marked by an epic perception of the everyday and of heroism. In his illustrations of Cantabrian myths and his notes on the epic of Corocotta, Calderón imbued regional roots with a universal dimension, imbued with mystery and reflection, which he also infused into his writing. Capable of depicting the international aristocracy with the same dignity as humble "fools" or "fishermen," his work remains a touchstone of 20th-century Spanish art for its ability to synthesize classical tradition with a modern and metaphysical vitality. Upon his death in his hometown of Santander, he left behind a legacy where the power of his line and the depth of his spirit merge in the monumental serenity that characterizes true masters. - 130 x 80 cm / 145 x 95 cm with frame