Fernando Amorsolo was born on May 30, 1892 in the Paco neighborhood, when Manila was still under

Spanish
sovereignty, to Pedro Amorsolo, a book keeper, and Bonifacia Cueto. Amorsolo spent his childhood in Daet,
Camarines Norte, where he studied in a public school and was tutored at home in Spanish language reading and
writing. After his father's death, Amorsolo and his family moved to Manila to live with Don Fabin de la Rosa, his
mother's cousin and a Philippine painter. At the age of 13, Amorsolo became an apprentice to De la Rosa, who would
eventually become the advocate and guide to Amorsolo's painting career. During this time, Amorsolo's mother
embroidered to earn money, while Amorsolo helped by selling water color postcards to a local bookstore for ten
centavos each. Amorsolo's brother, Pablo Amorsolo, was also a painter. Amorsolo's first success as a young painter
came in 1908, when his painting Leyendo el peridico took second place at the Bazar Escolta, a contest organized by
the Asociacion Internacional de Artistas. Between 1909 and 1914, Amorsolo enrolled at the Art School of the Liceo
de Manila, where he earned honors for his paintings and drawings. Antipolo by Fernando Amorsolo, depicting
Filipinos celebrating a town fiesta. After graduating from the Liceo, he entered the University of the Philippines'
School of Fine Arts, where De la Rosa worked at the time. During college, Fernando Amorsolo's primary influences
were the Spanish people court painter Diego Velzquez, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Claude Monet, Pierre-
Auguste Renoir, but mostly his contemporary Spanish masters Joaqun Sorolla Bastida and Ignacio Zuloaga.
Amorsolo's most notable work as a student at the Liceo was his painting of a young man and a young woman in a
garden, which won him the first prize in the art school exhibition during his graduation year.To make money during
school, Amorsolo joined competitions and did illustrations for various Philippine publications, including Severino
Reyes first novel in Tagalog language, Parusa ng Diyos ("Punishment of God"), Iigo Ed. Regalado's Madaling Araw
("Dawn"), as well as illustrations for editions of the Pasion. Amorsolo graduated with medals from the University of the
Philippines in 1914. After graduating from the University of the Philippines, Amorsolo worked as a draftsman for the
Bureau of Public Works, as a chief artist at the Pacific Commercial Company, and as a part-time instructor at the
University of the Philippines (where he would work for 38 years). After three years as an instructor and commercial
artist, Amorsolo was given a grant to study at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain by Filipino
businessman Enrique Zbel de Ayala. During his seven months in Spain, Amorsolo sketched at museums and along
the streets of Madrid, experimenting with the use of light and color. Through the Zbel grant, Amorsolo was also able
to visit New York City, where he encountered postwar impressionism and cubism, which would be major influences
on his work. Amorsolo set up his own studio upon his return to Manila and painted prodigiously during the 1920s and
the 1930s. His "Rice Planting" (1922), which appeared on posters and tourist brochures, became one of the most
popular images of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Beginning in the 1930s, Amorsolo's work was exhibited
widely both in the Philippines and abroad. His bright,optimistic, pastoral images set the tone for Philippine painting
before World War II . Except for his darker World War II-era paintings, Amorsolo painted quiet and peaceful scenes
throughout his career. Amorsolo was sought after by influential Filipinos including Luis Araneta, Antonio Araneta and
Jorge B. Vargas. Amorsolo also became the favourite Philippine artist of United States officials and visitors to the
country. Due to his popularity, Amorsolo had to resort to photographing his works and pasted and mounted them in
an album. Prospective patrons could then choose from this catalog of his works. Amorsolo did not create exact
replicas of his trademark themes; he recreated the paintings by varying some elements. His works later appeared on
the cover and pages of children textbooks, in novels, in commercial designs, in cartoons and illustrations for the
Philippine publications such The Independent, Philippine Magazine, Telembang, El Renacimiento Filipino, and
Excelsior. He was the director of the University of the Philippine's College of Fine Arts from 1938 to 1952. During the
1950s until his death in 1972, Amorsolo averaged to finishing 10 paintings a month. However, during his later years,
diabetes, cataracts, arthritis, headaches, dizziness and the death of two sons affected the execution of his works.
Amorsolo underwent a cataract operation when he was 70 years old, a surgery that did not impede him from drawing
and painting. Two months after being confined at the St. Luke's Hospital in Manila, Amorsolo died of heart failure at
the age of 79 on April 24, 1972 . Four days after his death, Amorsolo was honoured as the first National Artist in
Painting at the Cultural Center of the Philippines by then President Ferdinand Marcos. Amorsolo was a close friend of
the Philippine sculptor Guillermo Tolentino, the creator of the Caloocan City monument to the patriot Andrs Bonifac