Aureliano de Beruete

Aureliano de Beruete was a Spanish landscape painter, scholar, and art historian. Born in Madrid in 1845 into a wealthy family, he trained first in law and politics before devoting himself to art. He became known for fresh, light-filled landscapes of the Spanish countryside, especially around Madrid and the Castilian plains, painted with loose, modern brushwork influenced by Impressionism.

He was also a respected writer on art, producing an important study of the great painter Velázquez. Well connected in cultural circles, he moved comfortably between painting and scholarship. Beruete's clear, airy views of the Spanish land helped modernize landscape painting in his country and are valued for their honesty and light.