This is a posthumous portrait of the monarch. He appears standing, in full-length, and dressed in a simple captain-general’s uniform, upon which he bears the grand laureate cross and sash of the military order of San Fernando (Saint Ferdinand), as well as the decorations of the Golden Fleece hanging from his collar and a cummerbund and a sabre girdle around his waist. He poses inside a palatial salon, on a rich carpet, resting his hand on one of the splendid hard-stone tables kept in the Museo del Prado, on which we see the command baton and the feathered helmet of his uniform. In the shadows of the sumptuous architecture in the background, there is a niche with a statue of a medieval monarch – probably King Alfonso X the Wise, the immediate nominal predecessor of the monarch – and a medallion with the effigy of King Charles V.

Federico de Madrazo had already painted portraits of Alfonso XII on several occasions throughout the king’s lifetime, according to the records in his inventory. Nevertheless, this portrait was commissioned from the painter in 1886, the year following the king’s death. It was intended for the Ministry of Public Works, which back then was home to the Contemporary Section of the Museo del Prado. It was immediately transferred to the Museum, probably with the purpose of being integrated within the Chronological Series of the Kings of Spain, a project initiated by José de Madrazo.

The notes concerning this portrait recorded by Federico de Madrazo in his diary particularly elucidate his working method and the special care he took in executing the commission. The artist also communicates the assiduous collaboration of his son Ricardo on the painting’s background, the use of a model for the king’s hands and the immediate fame the portrait attained as soon as it was painted. Consequently, the painter’s studio turned into a true pilgrimage site where relevant figures from Madrid society and many friends of the painter passed by to contemplate it. The painting was instantly disseminated through the photograph taken by Laurent’s son-in-law.

Despite being a posthumous portrait (done from a photograph, logically), it is probably the best official painted effigy of this monarch, who was not very fortunate with the artists who portrayed him, generally at a great distance from this canvas. Although conceived as an official portrait, the military costume worn by the king is extremely sober. Madrazo paid particular attention on this occasion to the scenography in which the portrait is set, which – as can be understood from his diary – was reasonably arduous for the painter, who needed many long sessions until he was entirely satisfied with it. It is thus developed with a keen sense of depth that envelops the figure of the monarch in a quiet and tranquil atmosphere, with an almost theatrical conception of monumental space. It is rooted in Baroque portraiture and employs the ornamental elements that the artist had more readily available, such as the table of hard stones, which was then in the Prado – of which Madrazo was Director – and for which he executed at least four pencil studies of the gilded lions on the base.

Díez, José Luis, Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1815-1894), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1994, p.352-354 nº89; 458-459 nº378