Camarón Bonanat, José (1731-1803)

Undoubtedly the most representative painter from Castellón at the time, linked from its origins and foundation to the Real Academia de San Carlos. Like José Vergara, he became a leading figure in the process of renewal of Valencian painting in the second half of the century.
If his activity as a painter was outstanding and important, his facet as a draughtsman was no less interesting. The large number of drawings preserved are proof of both his dedication and his peculiar graphic style, which was defined by the scholar and collector Félix Boix in the following words:
“He produced an infinite number of designs in black and red pencil, in pen and Indian ink wash, only in pen, or with Indian ink wash on white or slightly yellowish or greenish papers; they are very characteristic and unmistakable once seen because of the special feathering used for the modelling, a procedure of execution that is somewhat monotonous when he translates religious themes, but which in others of an allegorical or costumbrist nature gives them an elegant and pleasant appearance, in a certain way similar to that of an etcher”.