Pasaje José Sánchez Pescador

The street recalls José Sánchez Pescador (Madrid, 1802–1863), a chaser and silversmith trained at the Royal Martínez Silverworks in Madrid. He worked for Ferdinand VII and the Spanish court in gold and chased silver, and the Prado Museum holds some of his pieces. He was the uncle and teacher of the sculptor and engraver Eduardo Fernández Pescador, who adopted the name Pescador in recognition of that training. The passage lies in the Pacífico neighborhood, which in the later nineteenth century took in place names tied to artists and scientists of Isabella II’s reign.

In 1817, barely fifteen, José Sánchez Pescador entered the Royal Martínez Silverworks and learned to chase metal. His training was rounded out in the drawing workshop of Vicente López Portaña, court painter to Ferdinand VII, a contact that opened the doors of the Royal Household. He worked gold and chased silver on commission from Ferdinand VII himself. From his hands came a gold sword for the king’s Guardia de Corps uniform, embossed silver cups, and a vase shaped like an eagle; for María Cristina de Borbón he chased a coffeepot crowded with figures. The Prado Museum holds works attributed to his hand. The surname that names the street conceals a tribute. Sánchez Pescador was the uncle and teacher of the sculptor and engraver Eduardo Fernández Pescador, who adopted “Pescador” in gratitude for that debt to the man who taught him. The Pasaje José Sánchez Pescador opened in the Pacífico neighborhood among the namings of the third quarter of the nineteenth century that sowed the area with artists and scientists of Isabella II’s reign.

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