Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (1904–2001)
Author of I, Juan de Pareja
About the Author
Image credit: Exodus Provisions
Works by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Treviño, Mary Elizabeth Victoria Borton de
- Other names
- Borton, Mary Elizabeth (birth)
- Birthdate
- 1904-09-02
- Date of death
- 2001-12-02
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Stanford University (BA|Latin American History|1925)
Boston Conservatory of Music - Occupations
- journalist
novelist
poet
memoirist - Organizations
- Boston Herald
- Awards and honors
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Short biography
- Elizabeth Borton knew she wanted to be a writer from childhood. She had her first success at age eight, when a local paper published one of her poems. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford, she went to Boston to study the violin, but soon was working as a reporter for The Boston Herald. In 1935 she married Luis Treviño Arreola y Gómez Sánchez de la Barquera and moved with him to Monterrey, Mexico. Her memoir My Heart Lies South (1953) became a bestseller and established her as a writer. She won a Newbery Medal in 1966 for I, Juan De Pareja.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Bakersfield, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
- Place of death
- Cuernavaca, Mexico
- Burial location
- Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
- Associated Place (for map)
- Mexico
Members
Reviews
Juan de Pareja, our narrator, was a slave in the service of the famous Spanish artist, Velasquez. Spanish slavery of the time was evidently quite different from the brutal slavery of the American South, that we are all familiar with. Juan de Pareja was well treated, and indeed, loved by his master and mistress, and he in turn loved them. This fact naturally gives the book an uncomfortable "Uncle Tom" or "Song of the South" flavor to the narration. We modern readers do not really want to hear show more about slaves loving their owners. However, this novel is based on history. Pareja, Velasquez, and a few other major characters, were all real people. De Trevino has taken the little that is known about them, and used fiction and imagination to fill in the huge gaps in our knowledge. So this is historical fiction - not a biography. But it was fascinating to read in the brief afterward which parts of the story were definitely true.
Juan secretly taught himself to paint, by watching his master for so many years. And a few of Juan de Pareja's paintings survive today and are displayed in museums in Europe. But it was illegal in Spain for a slave to practice the arts. The episode in the story in which both Velasquez and the King of Spain himself discover that the famous artist's slave has been illegally painting is the highlight of the book, and according the the author, this episode is known and based on fact.
Unusual for a middle grade novel in that the narrator, though his story begins in childhood, is an adult through most of the book. Not many books for this age focus the story on adults. show less
Juan secretly taught himself to paint, by watching his master for so many years. And a few of Juan de Pareja's paintings survive today and are displayed in museums in Europe. But it was illegal in Spain for a slave to practice the arts. The episode in the story in which both Velasquez and the King of Spain himself discover that the famous artist's slave has been illegally painting is the highlight of the book, and according the the author, this episode is known and based on fact.
Unusual for a middle grade novel in that the narrator, though his story begins in childhood, is an adult through most of the book. Not many books for this age focus the story on adults. show less
I, Juan de Pareja: The Story of a Great Painter and the Slave He Helped Become a Great Artist by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
Juan is the slave of the great Spanish painter Diego Valazquez and helps his master in his studio by preparing paints and stretching canvases. But Juan is an artist, too: he has taught himself by watching his master's technique, although such work is forbidden by slaves. Eventually he confesses his secret, and his master gives him his freedom. I really enjoyed the story and the audiobook.
Genre: Historical Fiction. 1966 Newbery Medal winner.
Genre: Historical Fiction. 1966 Newbery Medal winner.
Juan de Pareja was born a slave in 17th century Spain. When his mistress died, he was sent with the rest of her goods to her nephew, the painter Diego Velasquez. Despite their differences in station, the two men become friends, and eventually Juan becomes an artist in his own right, despite it being illegal to teach a slave any of the arts. Very interesting story, with a lot of detail about life in Spain and Italy during that time.
This is enjoyable biography of a noble and compassionate man, a slave who overcame the obstacles in his life to become a great painter. Unfortunately, it's not true. Well, I should say it's based on reality, but like the author herself says, "very little, for certain is known about [Juan de Pareja]." What is known is that Sr. Pareja was a slave, and was inherited by the great Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. We also know that Sr. Pareja became a painter, despite the fact that a slave was show more forbidden to do so under Spanish law. Ms. Trevino creatively fills in the gaps giving us a tale of what it might be like to be the slave of a great artist. While it isn't true history, it's good reading. You might as well check it out since she's gone to all the trouble to write it.
--J. show less
--J. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 31
- Members
- 3,064
- Popularity
- #8,328
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 30
- ISBNs
- 71
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 1