Juan Carlos Heras Vicario was born in Madrid in 1961. From
1977 to 1979 he studied graphic arts at the vocational college of the FNMT,
Spain’s state printers, in Madrid. In 1979 he started his career as a letterpress
printer at the FNMT-RCM, becoming a technical assistant at the Department of
Documents the year after. In 1989, he became an assistant artistic engraver at
the same department.
In 1990, he got his degree in Fine Arts, specialising in
intaglio engraving, at the Complutense University in Madrid. In 1994, he became a full-blown artistic
engraver, a position which he has held to this day.
His first known engraved stamp, though, dates from 1983,
this being the 16p value from the Spanish stained glass windows issue. The FNMT
does not usually divulge the names of their engravers for specific issues,
rather attributing the engravings to ‘Team FNMT’, but thanks to personal
correspondence and signed die proofs, it has been possible to create a fairly
comprehensive list of Heras Vicario’s work.
As far as stamps are concerned, Heras Vicario only engraved
Spanish stamps, with the odd issue for Spanish Andorra added as well. His
banknote work, which he has been working on since the mid 1980s, is more geographically
spread, with his work appearing on banknotes from countries as far away as
Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. His private art consists largely of Madrid views.
From 2000 to 2003 Heras Vicario was a Professor of Engraving
at the Engraver and Graphic Design School of the Casa de la Moneda in Madrid.
In 2010, the Government Postage Stamp Printers’ Association
(GPSPA) awarded one of Heras Vicario’s stamps First prize in the category ‘Best
Intaglio Stamp’. The stamp in question was the 32c value from the 2009
Scientists set of Spain, portraying Charles Darwin.
You will find Juan Carlos Heras Vicario's database HERE.