Luis Ricardo Falero
Mythological nudes with astronomical themes
Luis Ricardo Falero, Duke of Labranzano, was a Spanish painter. He specialized in female nudes and mythological, orientalist and fantasy settings. His most common medium was oil on canvas. Falero’s paintings are held mostly within private collections in Europe and the United States, although a watercolour of the ‘Twin Stars’ is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Falero was born in Granada and originally pursued a career in the Spanish Navy, but gave it up to his parents' disappointment. He travelled on foot to Paris, where he studied art, chemistry and mechanical engineering. The experiments which he had to conduct in the latter two were dangerous, leading him to decide to focus on painting alone. He was a student of Gabriel Ferrier. After Paris, he studied in London, where he eventually settled. Falero had a particular interest in astronomy and incorporated celestial constellations into many of his works, such as "The Marriage of a Comet" and "Twin Stars". His interest and knowledge of astronomy also led him to illustrate the works of Camille Flammarion. In 1896, the year of his death, Maud Harvey sued Falero for paternity. The suit alleged that Falero seduced Harvey when she was 17, first serving as his housemaid, and then model. When he discovered she was pregnant, he dismissed her. She won the case and was awarded five shillings per week in support of their child. Falero died at University College Hospital, London, at the age of 45.
Relationship Network
Master student
- Gabriel Ferrier Master
Fellow student
Artworks by this artist (22 total)
- Dawn 1883
- Bedouin girl 1891
- Prayer to Isis 1888
- The Planet Venus 1882
- Playing with the Tiger
- The Poppy Fairy 1888
- Twin Stars 1851[-]96
- A Private Moment 1873
- Seduction 1893
- Reclining nude 1879
- A sea nymph 1892
- Night 1883
- Twin Stars
- Portrait of Cyprian Godebski
- Odalisque 1877
- An Allegory Of Art 1892
- The Tempest 1889
- A Nightmare
- Caught in the Web
- A classical beauty 1889