Working in his studio on the Mediterranean coast in Valencia Spain, renowned artist Alberto Gálvez creates timeless paintings that interpret the ideals of the classical European tradition in fresh and contemporary ways.
Alberto Gálvez paints oil on linen using the renaissance technique of grisaille, where translucent glazes of color are applied over the monochromatic lower registers of the painting. This effect creates an ethereal glow and gives his faces a transcendent quality. Presenting the viewer with a form of Mediterranean portraiture that stretches back to the Byzantine era, his paintings remind us that his subject is as contemporary as it is timeless.
In this exhibition, La bella jardinera, Gálvez he found himself drawn to the great tradition of Enlightenment and Victorian botanical illustrators and painters, particularly the works of Elizabeth Blackwell, Marianne North and Edith Holden. By combining their botanical images on the faces for which he is known, Gálvez is paying powerful tribute to these artists and celebrating the enormous contributions of women to the arts and sciences.
