Another of the finest Cuban landscape painters was Valentin Sanz Carta. Though born in the Canary Islands, Sanz Carta settled in Havana and began his career as a portrait painter. Sanz Carta ended up being one of the finest colonial painters Cuba had to offer.

He received his education at the Provincial Academy of Fine Arts in the Canary Islands. Sanz Carta preferred to paint things as they were, in a Realist and Naturalist light, and was said to have never painted anything differently than it represented in real life. He preferred the natural light of the outdoors to a studio, and often used the “plein-air” technique, though in a Realist way.

By the time Sanz Carta came to Cuba, he was already established in the Canary Islands and Madrid as a notable painter. Even though he settled in Cuba, it was not his geographic status that made him a Cuban painter. It was the subject matter. Sanz Carta portrayed the Cuban countryside in a beautiful light that was neither Impressionistic or unnatural, but true to the beauty of his adopted home.

In particular, Sanz Carta was fascinated with the sea, and would often incorporate it in his work. He was considered one of the finest landscape painters in Cuba in his lifetime, and was awarded the Landscape Painting Chair at San Alejandro. He held this position from 1887 until his death in 1898.

Sanz Carta also held a professorship at San Alejandro. Among his students were Maria Ariza Delance, Teódulo Jiménez Hernandez and Antonio Rodriguez Morey.

Today, Sanz Carta’s work is housed extensively in Spain and Cuba and throughout the Caribbean. Could you own a piece of art by Valentin Sanz Carta? We would be glad to help you authenticate a piece of work by this great Cuban artist.