Luisa Bassecourt y Pacheco
1869. Oil on panel.Not on display
The artist portrayed her full-length. She is sitting next to a pedestal table covered with a tablecloth, on which there is a small vase of flowers. She is wearing a lilac satin dress and a necklace of thick coral beads with four strands. She has a long braid that falls over her shoulder. The portrait is set inside a hall, which is covered with a carpet and decorated with a folding screen and a tapestry.
This is a unique example of Federico de Madrazo’s work, as it is produced in the same way as his large life-size female effigies adorned with elaborate attire, here reduced to a very small size. This type of portrait was intended for cabinet decoration or portable use. Meissonier made it fashionable in France and Madrazo used it on very few occasions. With a brilliantly colourful technique, based on short, vibrant brushstrokes, the artist constructs both the figure and the accessory elements of the portrait with strokes of light, particularly graceful in the half-light background of the hall. Madrazo obtains a plastic result which is similar to the work of Fortuny, with whom he came into contact during that time.
Díez, José Luis, Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1815-1894), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1994, p.312 nº72; 451-452 nº267
