This canvas was displayed on the ceiling of the Salon Rouge of the Duke and Duchess of Riánsares’ Paris mansion. The decoration of this hall, which was designed to receive visitors, glorified María Cristina’s regency and the legitimacy of her daughter Isabella II, which was opposed by the supporters of Carlos María Isidro de Borbón, rival aspirant to the throne. The wor
Fortuny enjoyed painting flowers in bloom in his scenes. Attracted by their colours, he also made separate studies of them. His favourites were hollyhocks on account of their pleasing hues and the elegant verticality of their stalks, which is accentuated by the format used here. As the background is devoid of references, their corollas appear to float in an indeterminate space, with varying degree
A man stands before a dark background, portrayed more than half-length with his torso bare and his hair and beard white from age. With his left hand he holds a cross and with his right he holds a hook caught in the mouth of a fish. Both motifs allow us to identify him as the apostle Saint Andrew. The X-shaped cross recalls the one on which he was crucified and the fish with a hook is a reminder th
Fortuny featured groups of hens in a number of his compositions, as their dynamism, texture and luxuriant colours enriched and enlivened his works. This painting, however, is a study in its own right -a free exercise designed to capture the birds’ light, fast movements rather than intended as a detail of a larger composition.
This work is an excellent example of the way in which an interest in the art of Spain´s Golden Age combines in Mariano Fortuny´s paintings with the close study of subjects made from life. Nude Old Man in the Sun reveals Fortuny´s familiarity with the work of Jusepe de Ribera, whose painting Saint Andrew (P1078) he had copied on a previous occasion. And as in that copy and others Fortuny made (such
Fortuny’s predilection for beautifully colored and very carefully painted panels is perfectly exemplified by the present work, which reveals his mastery of tableautin, a type of painting that garnered considerable commercial success for artists such as Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891), although the latter’s execution was much more meticulous and drawn. The Orientalist genre was also the ob
This work bears exceptional witness to the concurrence of Fortuny’s painting with that of his close friend, Raimundo de Madrazo. Begun by the former, it was completed after his death by the latter with a completely concordant style that does not, however, hide Madrazo’s own individuality. Fortuny had been living in Granada since the summer of 1870 and he spent the best days of his life there befor
Fortuny’s sudden death left this painting unfinished, yet it remains one of his finest pieces, and the maximum expression of the audacious pictorial modernity that characterizes his mature work.The two children that appear in this canvas are the artist’s own son and daughter, Mariano and María Luisa. They rest on the long divan in the Japanese Room at Villa Arata, the Fortuny family’s summe
Fortuny produces a faithful interpretation of Jusepe de Ribera’s painting in the Museo del Prado, though his attention is focused exclusively on capturing the effects of the light on an elderly man’s naked torso and he dispenses with the saint’s iconographic attributes. He thus attaches greater importance to the human figure, as in his later studies of old men made in Granada.
The sketch, almost schematic character of this composition makes this one of the most attractive bullfighting scenes ever painted by Fortuny. It offers a panoramic view of a bullring -probably in Madrid- in which the powerful contrast of light between the part in the sun and the part in the shade is outstanding. The painter treats the hustle and bustle of the spectators as an undefined mass, with
Shortly before Mariano Fortuny concluded the second year of the pension he had received from the Regional Government of Barcelona in 1858 to complete his studies in Rome, that same institution commissioned him, on January 10, 1860, to travel to Morocco as a graphic reporter of the African War. There, Spanish troops were fighting in the northern Maghreb -especially the battalion of Catalan voluntee
This painting summarises many of Fortuny’s artistic concerns during his summer stay in Portici on the Neapolitan coast in a more complete manner than the other landscapes from this period in the Prado. It reveals his practice of working from life (here on the seashore for the first time), the use of pure colour, varied brushstrokes and the technique of leaving the preparation visible.
This sculpture, inspired by the work of Classical and Renaissance sculptors, is generally considered Sutiors masterpiece. It offers a realistic portrayal of Dante wearing the laurel wreath of fame and immortality, and holding a book in reference to the Latin texts in which he sought refuge. The original plaster was produced in Rome in 1864, and this bronze version was cast in 1908, at the request
The sculptor and caricature artist Prosper d’Épinay was a close friend of Fortuny’s and they made portraits of each other. Modelled in Rome, this bust is one of the only two portrait sculptures of Fortuny executed during his lifetime and is an early example of the admiration his personality and oeuvre aroused in his colleagues. This appreciation grew notably from 1870 onwards following the