Julio Vila y Prades

Julio Vila y Prades (9 April 1873, Valencia - 9 July 1930, Barcelona) was a Spanish painter and muralist who also worked throughout Latin America.

Expressing a desire to visit South America, his friend Sorolla contacted the Catalan businessman and art promoter, José Artal (1862-1918), who was based in Buenos Aires.

In 1908, following the death of his mother, he went back to Buenos Aires and married José (soon to be "Count") Artal's daughter, Carmen, who was fifteen years his junior.

Over the next few years, he travelled throughout Argentina, receiving several commissions for decorative works, including the ceiling at the Tigre Club, and murals at the Plaza Hotel and the Tucumán Government Palace.

[2] The year 1924 found him in San Francisco, painting a ceiling mural, The Apotheosis of the California Soldier, for the theater at the Legion of Honor museum.