Textos biográficos en el semanario ilustrado español El Artista (1835 -1836): tipología y características generales

Abstract

Biographies as a literary and historical genre were first introduced in the Spanish press by illustrated magazines of the 19th century. One of the pioneers was El Artista (1835-1836), where biography gained importance as a way to defend and give relevance to national artists. A proper look into those first texts offers a typology. That classification enables to comprehend how biographies started then to adapt to the aims of Journalism but, at the same time, still kept its primarily literary essence. This research into the origins of one of the most permanent literary genres yields a better understanding of its present-day main features.