A portrait of Aline Masson, Madrazo´s favorite model and the esthetic ideal of femininity in late-nineteenth-century bourgeois Paris. The white mantilla over a red embroidered shawl and the flowers in her hair link this work to the nineteenth-century French taste for Spanish things, a detail Madrazo emphasized in many of his works. This painting entered the Prado Museum as part of the Ramón
Aline Masson was Madrazo’s favourite model for genre paintings. Her heavy-lidded gaze and slightly defiant attitude convey the frivolous atmosphere of Paris, where Madrazo’s portraits met with great acclaim. Here, the artist displays his technical skill in using a reduced range of colours, applied with deft, confident brushstrokes.
After establishing himself in Paris as portrait painter to the elegant and cosmopolitan high society of his time, Raimundo de Madrazo cultivated a particularly abundant clientele among the great ladies of the French capital. A posterior trip to America allowed him to expand his client base to include the leading families of New York. In the 1870s, when Raimundo was beginning to make a place for hi
Aline Masson, the painter´s model, contemplates the signet -sealed envelope she holds in her right hand, which presumably arrived with the bouquet of flowers she holds in her left. The blue robe with cottony white edging gives the scene a homey feeling appropriate to the subject, but wisely used by the painter to bring out the young woman´s fine, pale skin. This work is approached in the style of
Oblivious to vindications of the intellectual and spiritual dimension of women, Raimundo de Madrazo continued to explore the sophistication of their external appearance, adjusting his portraits of his female clients to a fashion that called amidst the rise of the Suffragette movement for a return to the values and aesthetics of the eighteenth century. It was especially successful among the women o
In this scene, set in the vicinity of Seville Cathedral, Madrazo deliberately echoes the peopled landscapes produced by his close friend, the Madrid painter Martín Rico; the main focus of the scene is a group of children playing, a device commonly used in Rico’s compositions.
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
In this popular scene, two people, one dressed in eighteenth century fashion, with a cape and two-cornered hat, are depicted in front of the Pavilion of Carlos V in the Gardens of the Alcázar of Seville. The presence of the man deliberately recalls the small genre scenes made popular by Madrazo’s brother-in-law, Mariano Fortuny, to whom this painting may be seen as a playful tribute.This is
Sobre un fondo cerúleo, de ejecución rápida y desenvuelta, destaca la figura de una gitana de medio cuerpo. Como corresponde al estereotipo racial femenino, es de rostro ovalado, labios carnosos, cabello negro ensortijado y grandes ojos negros. Cubre su talle un mantón rojo, floreado, y una mantilla negra que deja caer sobre sus brazos. Como aderezo, unos claveles en su pelo, zarcillos colgantes y