Genaro Pérez Villaamil (El Ferrol, 1807-Madrid, 1854) can be considered the most significant and influential Spanish Romantic landscape painter and an artist who had an intense interest, characteristic of that period, in depictions of cities and their monuments.The small size of the tin plates on which theses scenes are painted allowed Villaamil to work from the motif, as he generally did with his drawings and watercolours. When working in oil, however, he favoured larger format works exe

A herd of bulls graze beside the backwaters of a quiet river, closely watched by the herdsmen resting on the bank. Farther back, two barges filled with local men prepare to cross the river. The closer of the two is being loaded with sacks of merchandise -possible contraband- carried by two donkeys near a ruined estate. A hill behind the lush woods that border the river is topped by an imposing fortress accessible via a steep stairway ending at an enormous arched entrance. This fort is filled wit

This view of the so-called Eagle’s Castle in Gaucín (Malaga), with the valley of the Genal River and the Plain of Gibraltar in the background, is similar to an earlier view by Villaamil’s master, the Scottish artist David Roberts (1796-1864). The touches of evening light emphasise this monumental vision of the mountains of Ronda, interpreted with a picturesque and evocative grandeur characteristic of Romantic landscape painting.