482 Painting As Pareja learned his art by secretly studying the works of Velazquez, so did Gomez, by attention to the productions of Murillo. After years of careful study, Gomez ventured to complete an unfinished sketch of the Virgin's Head by his master. Murillo was pleased with the attempt, and encouraged Gomez to go on with his adopted profession. His paintings are defective in drawing and composition, but in colour they imitate successfully the great Murillo. Juan de Valdes Leal (1630 — 1691), the sculptor, archi- tect and painter, studied in the school of Antonio del Castillo, and was subsequently one of the most famous painters in Seville : indeed, after the death of Murillo in 1682, he was second to none. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Seville. His works are to be seen in churches of Seville and Cordova. Pedro Nunez de Villavicencio (1635 — 1700), of a noble family, studied art for amusement under Murillo as Bel- traffio did under Leonardo da Vinci. Burmudez tells us that he painted children, especially of the poorer class, in a manner little inferior to that of Murillo. He was one of his master's executors. Acisclo Antonio Palomino y Velasco (1653 — 1725), the Vasari of Spain, was first destined for the Church, but soon gave proofs of his love of art. Palomino subsequently painted at Madrid, where he became quite a famous artist, in the Alcazar, the Escorial, at Salamanca and at Granada. Though a very fair artist, he is much more famous as the historian of the artists of Spain. Scarcely resembling Vasari in his pleasing style of narrative, he is unfortunately like him in being, as regards dates, open to criticism — not to say untrustworthy. Alonso Miguel de Tobar (1678 — 1758), though scarcely
