Fortuny made an ample number of copies of famous paintings, some as late as the end of the 1860s. They reveal his interest in deepening his knowledge of the painting of the great masters, especially Velázquez and Goya, and to a lesser extent, Raphael, Dürer, Tintoretto, El Greco, Ribera, Rubens, Van Dyck and Tiepolo, as well as Rembrandt and the Japanese engravers, all of whom had a fundamental influence on his work. Fortuny made these copies in oils and also in watercolors, as the latter medium allowed a less direct approach and an immediate resolution that was appropriate for the type of copy that interested him and that allowed him to rapidly capture the essence of a painting.

Often, as here, he concentrated on an aspect of the composition that particularly interested him. He did that same with a half-length copy of Aesop (former Mariano Fortuny Madrazo collection, Venice) in oils. In both cases, but especially in Menippus, the most striking aspect is the highly expressive face, along with the hand, thanks to Fortuny’s reduction of the figure to an elongated bust. Through that reduction, the artist avoids representing the spatial effects that captivated Velázquez. In fact, he barely delineates the cape’s shadow on the wall, reducing it to a light line. The resolution is relaxed and summary, revealing Fortuny’s considerable skill at watercolors. He obtains beautiful colors as well, including the greenish blues and chestnut tones on the beggar’s head. Moreover, he obtains a feeling of consistency by adding touches of gouache, as can be seen on the beard, and by reinforcing the shadows with varnish glazes. Fortuny must have made this copy over the course of several visits to the Museo del Prado while in Madrid in late June and July of 1866. His fondness of it is indicated by a photograph from 1874 that shows it framed and hanging in Fortuny’s studio in Rome. At the sale in Paris, it is listed as Vieillard d’après Velazquez, with the specification that it was a study made at the Museum of Madrid. One copy of the catalog has a handwritten note in ink with the figure 1.150, which would correspond to its sales price in French Francs. At the atelier sales, this and a study of El Greco were the only watercolor copies with their own numbers. Another six based on works at the Museo del Prado by Titian, Tintoretto and Velázquez, among other artists, shared the same catalog number with no additional details. Moreover, they were offered at far lower prices, indicating that the present work was much more highly esteemed. As with the other watercolors in his collection, it is framed with a golden and beveled passepartout surrounded by equally golden edges that reinforce its pictorial character and endow it with an importance equal to the oils. While this watercolor has not pleased everyone who has written about it, it achieves, as mentioned above, degrees of intensity and vigor worthy of Velázquez. Fortuny’s capacity to transmit the deep spirit of the creations of other artists impressed other painters and critics, and this watercolor is an extraordinary example of the artist’s ability to vividly capture expressions. Here, he manages to imbue the head with the appearance of a haughty and scornful beggar of a sort that was common in this country, and admirably represented by Velázquez in his interpretation of the Greek philosopher from the 3d century B.C.E.

El legado de Ramón de Errazu: Fortuny, Madrazo y Rico, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2005, p.108, nº7