Julio Ruelas was a Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 graphic artist, painter, draughtsman and printmaker. Ruelas was the principal illustrator of the Revista Moderna magazine and is most associated with Mexican symbolism. A number of his works are on display at the Museum of the City of Mexico

Museum of the City of Mexico

The Museum of the City of Mexico is located at Pino Suarez 30, a few blocks south of the Zocalo, on what was the Iztapalapa Causeway, near where Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma II met for the first time. This building used to be the palace of the Counts of Santiago de Calimaya, who were the...

 and in the Zacatecas museum. Artistically, he was noted for creating etched images depicting his own face, incorporating black, twisted lines to give an impression of being tormented.

Born in Zacatecas

Zacatecas

Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

, he lived in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 from 1876, later attending the Colegio Militar and the Escuela de Bellas Artes. Around 1892, he departed and headed for Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

, Germany, where Romanticism would profoundly influence his drawings and prints, the most important element of his work as an artist. He also studied under the academic painter Meyerbeer in Danzig.

Ruelas returned to Mexico in 1895 but spent the last three years of his life in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 where he died on September 16, 1907 from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

.

Notable works

• El suplicio de la Reina Mora
• La domadora (1897)
• Retrato de Rubén Campos
• El rapto (1901)
• Antón (1901)
• A la sombra de un hermes (1901)
• Autorretrato con musa (1903)
• Confiteor (1903)
• Fauno tocando la flauta (1903)
• Efluvios (1903)
• Doncella sobre ave gigante (1903)
• En el país de los gigantes (1904)
• Romance en el país de los enanos (1904)
• Mujer alacrán (1904)
• En el país de los enanos (1905)
• Auto de fé (1906)
• Buitre herido (1906)
• Los fuegos fatuos (ca. 1907)
• La mendiga
• La escalera del dragón
• Esfinge
• La princesa cautiva
• La muerte llegó de improviso