Biography:
Francisco Prosper Zaragoza studied art in Valencia where he began to work as sculptor and painter. He went to Madrid in middle forties and worked as the assistant of Francisco Canet, construction manager of the CEA Studios. Canet was aware of perspective tricks; he built a hanging miniature for Eugenia de Montijo (1944) on the interior of Notre Dame Cathedral. Prosper learned very soon those tricks. In the late 40´s he went to Sevilla Films where he became head of the construction department. He collaborated many times with art director Enrique Alarcon who was an expert and enthusiast of miniatures tricks. Prosper had to build foreground and glass paintings very often. He used to work with Enrique Salvá and Emilio Ruiz to execute the paintings on glass and scenic paintings. He also worked with Pierre Schild and latter on with miniature expert Eugene Lourie. Prosper provided miniatures and sets for all the Harryhausen movies filmed in Spain. During the sixties and seventies, he started to work as an art director. When needed matte painting he used to call Emilio Ruiz, but he executes some paintings by himself when Emilio was not available.
Francisco Prósper on two miniature sets he made for Lourie. The Battle of the Bulge
and Custer of The West
Prosper was responsible for the miniatures at Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Miniatures that were matted in by Harryhausen at postproduction.
Prósper with a miniature made for the film Krakatoa: East of Java (1969)
Prosper at left with a tabletop miniature made fro the film Alquadisiya (1981) At the edge of the desert is showing the distant Persian army with model elephants.
A matte shot he painted for the film Tuareg (1984)
Filmography:
1993 Un dia volvere (tv series)
1990 Bethune: The Making of a Hero (Set Construction)
1989 Sinbad and the Seven seas (Foreground miniatures)
1989 Edless descent (Set and miniatures)
1988 El complot de los anillos (S C)
1987 Los alegres picaros (Matte painting)
1987 El túnel (S C)
1986 Solarbabies (S C)
1984 ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (S C)(FX)
1894 La Biblia en pasta (Set and miniatures- matte shots)
1984 Tuareg (matteshots)
1983 The Pod People (Set and miniatures)
1980 Bodas de sangre (S C)
1981 Nacional III (S C)
1981 Mystery on Monster Island(Set and miniatures)
1981 Al Qadisiya (Sets and miniatures)
1979 Las verdes praderas (Set and miniatures)
1978 Oro Rojo (S C)
1978 Supersonic man (Sets and miniatures)
1977 Sinbad and the eye of the Tiger (S C)
1977 Where Time Began(Sets and miniatures)
1976 Robin and Marian (S C)
1976 The Last Remake of Beau Geste(S C)
1976 Voyage of the Damned(S C)
1975 The Wind and the Lion (S C)
1974 The Four Musketeers (S C)
1974 Golden voyage of Sinbad (Set and miniatures)
1973 Papillon (S C)
1973 The three Musketeers (S C)
1972 La isla misteriosa (S C)
1972 Antony and Cleopatra (S C)
1972 Travels with mu Aunt(S C)
1972 Treasure island (S C)
1971 Nicolas and Alexandra (S C)
1970 Cannons for Cordoba ( Set and miniatures)
1970 Patton (S C)
1970 Cromwell (S C)
1970 Red Sun (S C)
1969 Battle of Britain (S C)
1969 The valley of Gwangi (sets and miniatures)
1969 Krakatoa (Setd and miniatures)
1968 Shalako (S C)
1968 Custer of the West (Set and miniatures)
1967 The long Duel (S C)
1967 Young Cervantes (S C)
1966 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (S C)
1965 The battle of the Bulge (Set and miniatures)
1965 The Hill(S C)
1964 Circus World (Setd and miniatures)
1964 A Crack in the World (Setd and miniatures)
1964 Relevo para un pistolero (S C)
1963 The fall of the Roman Empire (Setd and miniatures)
1962 Lawrence de Arabia (S C)
1962 Scherezade (S C)
1962 55 days at Peking (S C)
1961 El Cid (S C)
1961 Los corsarios del caribe (S C)
1961 Mysterious island (Set and miniatures)
1960 The three Worlds of Gulliver (Set and miniatures)
1960 Spartacus (S C)
1959 S.O.S. Pacific (S C)
1959 North West frontier (Setd and miniatures)
1959 Molokai (S C)
1958 Aquellos tiempos del cuplé (Setd and miniatures)
1958 The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (S C)
1958 Suddenly, Last Summer (S C)
1958 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Sets and miniatures)
1958 Salomon and Sheba (Sets and miniatures)
1957 Horas de pánico (S C)
1956 Around the World in Eighty Days(S C)
1956 Calabuch (S C)
1956 Zarak (S C)
1955 Alexander the great (Sets and miniatures)
1954 Un caballero andaluz (S C)(C D)
1954 Mister Arkadin (S C)
1954 The black Knight (S C)
1953 Ricardo III(S C)
1953 Bienvenido Mr Marshall (S C)
1952 Gloria Mairena(S C)
1951 Alba de América(S C)
1951 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman(S C)
1950 La leona de Castilla (S C)
1950 Agustina de Aragón (Sets and miniatures)
1949 La duquesa de Benameji (S C)
1949 Jalisco canta en Sevilla ( Sets and miniatures)
1948 Locura de amor (S C)
1948 El Sotano (Sets and miniatures)
1947 Fuenteovejuna (Set Construction)
1947 La princesa de los Ursinos (S C)