Jose Royo

José Mateu San Hilario, known artistically as ROYO, was born in Valencia on 20 December 1941, and his desire to paint began in earliest childhood. When he was nine his father a doctor with a strong interest in art acknowledged his ability and began to employ private tutors to instruct him in drawing, painting and sculpture. At 14, Royo enrolled at the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia, continuing lessons privately from the age of 18 with Adolfo Ferrer Amblar. To supplement his art-historical studies he visited the major museums of Europe, seeing at first hand works that would inspire and influence him, including paintings by Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Joaquin Sorolla. There are parallels between Royo's art and that of Sorolla. Both have been described as 'painters of the light', and Royo evokes the startling blues of the Mediterranean under the southern sun most notably in his Mallorca works. Staying on the island each year, he uses its coastline and cliffs, its white sands and sea breezes, to heighten an already vivid palette and breathe extra life into the thick, flowing tresses of his subjects. At his estate in a village near Valencia, the settings are more tranquil, with orchards or white-painted walls as the backdrop.