Narciso Méndez Bringa

Narciso Méndez Bringa (Madrid, 1868^[1] - Madrid, 5 July 1933)^[2] was one of the most important Spanish illustrators. His illustrations won two awards in 1906 and 1910 from the National Exhibition of Fine Arts (Spain).^[1]

Portrait of Méndez Bringa, 1910, La Ilustración Artística.

Buen Retiro's gardens, 16 July 1890, reception to Isaac Peral, published in La Ilustración Española y Americana, 1890.

According to García Padrino, " Narciso Méndez Bringa represented the validity of the Nineteenth Century's concept of illustrating texts. Literary or not, his illustrations were vigorous and fully detailed in setting and characterization, with images destined to be printed by xylography".^[3] Bringa was also described as "a member of a conservative group of costumbrist artists rooted in the nineteenth-century"^[4] and as "an artist he was anchored in a modernist-toned past".^[1]

Narciso Méndez Bringa collaborated in numerous magazines including The Ocurrencias, La Ilustración, The Graphic, El Arte Moderno, Caras y Caretas, ^[5] La Ilustración Española y Americana, Apuntes,^[1] La Ilustración Artística,^[6] ABC^[3] and Blanco y Negro,^[3][1] in which he was "a constant illustrator of every sort of stories".^[7] Bringa was buried in La Almudena Cemetery in Madrid, Spain.^[5]