Arco, Alexis (or Alfonso Del)

Arco, Alexis (Or Alfonso Del)

a Spanish painter (also called el Sordillo de Pereda, on account of his deafness and from the name of his master, Pereda). He executed historical paintings. But his wife, impelled by motives of cupidity, wished him to unite himself with coadjutors less skilled than himself. He died at Madrid in 1700 in great poverty. His wife then accepted relief from the marquis of Santiago, and her two daughters took the veil His works are found in many villages of Spain. The most noteworthy is the Baptism of St. John, in the Church of that saint, at Toledo. Other paintings of his are the Miraculous Conception, and The Assumption, in the. Cloister of the Trinitarios Descalzos at Madrid: — also a picture of St. Teresa, in the Church of San Salvador. His coloring was charming, but his designs were faulty. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.