Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, also for the "Salón Elíptico". The work was presented at the "Exposición Nacional de Venezuela" in 1883 and was awarded a gold medal. This resulted in further commissions to portray the battles of Carabobo, Boyacá, Junín and Ayacucho. After researching and sketching the battle sites, he set up a workshop in Paris, which he maintained from 1887 to the late 1890s, commuting between there and Caracas and doing more portraits as well as the battle scenes. He had finished only three of the battles when he died in 1902. The Battle of Ayucucho was completed by Antonio Herrera Toro, using Tovar's studies. Selected portraits References Further reading Enrique Planchart, Martín Tovar y Tovar, (Volume 1 of Biblioteca venezolana de cultura) Edición del Ministerio de Educación, Dirección de Cultura, 1952 Juan Calzadilla, Tovar y Tovar, C.V.G. Siderúrgica del Orinoco, 1977. Francisco Javier Duplá, Martín Tovar y Tovar, 1827–1902, (Volume 75 of Biblioteca biográfica venezolana), Editora El Nacional, 2008 External links Escuela de Artes Plásticas "Martín Tovar y Tovar" 1827 births 1902 deaths People from Caracas Portrait painters Military art 19th-century Venezuelan painters 19th-century male artists Burials at the National Pantheon of Venezuela 20th-century Venezuelan painters 20th-century Venezuelan male artists Male painters Death in Caracas