2023Juan Fernández de Navarrete, el Mudo - First Day Cover

Juan Fernández de Navarrete was born in Logroño around 1538 and died on 28 March 1579 at the age of 51. He became deaf at the age of three, which is why he is also known as "el Mudo" (the Mute). Unable to speak or hear and with no formal education, he began to communicate with his family by drawing objects with a piece of charcoal on paper. His family was wealthy and sent him to the Monastery of La Estrella in La Rioja to receive an education. One of the friars who taught him was his art teacher, Fray Vicente de Santo Domingo. After leaving the monastery, he travelled to Italy to study great artists such as Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo, Tintoretto and others. Navarrete was known as the Spanish Mannerist.