The Story of Spanish PaintingCaffin, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
History
The Story of Spanish Painting
Caffin, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
Painters -- Spain; Painting, Spanish
The first of these in order of time was Mariano Fortuny, whose _La
Vicaria_, better known in America as _The Spanish Marriage_, when it
made its first appearance in Paris in 1870, created a sensation. The
scene, it will be remembered, is a sacristy, profusely embellished with
rococo decorations. The costumes of the figures are those of Goya’s day;
the actions and gestures piquantly natural and the characterization of
each happily individualized. But the chief charm of the picture lies in
the marvelous treatment of the light. Fortuny, after pursuing the
academic routine and capturing the _Prix de Rome_, obtained an
engagement to accompany the Spanish troops in a little war with Morocco.
The splendor of Southern coloring opened his eyes to the magic of light.
Henceforth his pictures became miracles of luminosity. The most
powerful were _La Vicaria_, _Choosing the Model_ and _The Rehearsal_;
all rococo subjects in which the light is splintered into a myriad tiny
reflections. But the finer work, in an artistic sense, is to be found in
his water-colors. These are executed with extraordinary fluency and
expression, marvels of naturalistic characterization, flooded broadly
with glowing luminosity. Fortuny lived only five years after his
remarkable début, dying in 1874 at the age of thirty-six.
Among those who were influenced by him, the most notable in imitating
his virtuosity were Edoardo Zamacois, Antonio Casanova y Estorach and
Fortuny’s brother-in-law, Raimundo de Madrazo. On the other hand, the
artist who has been most happy in uniting virtuosity with a gift of
naturalism is Francisco Pradilla. He has painted decorations full of
_joie de vivre_ and the spirit of romance: popular merry-makings,
camp-life and scenes along the sea-shore; spontaneous in execution,
abounding with zest and aglow with color. Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida has
followed in his footsteps, with a longer stride and heavier tread. His
works have the zest of Pradilla’s, but neither the refinement of
virtuosity nor the versatility and subtlety of color. His naturalism is
of the obvious type.
In contrast to him is Ignacio Zuloaga, an artist in whom has been
re-incarnated much of the diablerie and subtlety of Goya. Since the
latter no other has dipped so deeply into the grotesqueries of Spanish
life, while in a thoroughly modern vein he explores the psychology of
his subjects. These include a diversity of types of femininity, subtly
analysed and interpreted by means, particularly, of expressive
color-schemes. Zuloaga, to-day, is not only the most characteristically
Spanish of the artists of Spain, but the most advanced of them in his
feeling for expression and in his faculty of rendering it.
INDEX
Abd-er-Rahman, 9
Abencerrages, tribe of, 11
_Adoration of the Kings, The_ [Velasquez], 88, 104, 107
_Adoration of the Shepherds, The_ [Velasquez], 104, 107
_Æsopus_ [Velasquez], 115
_Agnes, S._ [Cano], 164, 165
Alba, Duchess of, 183
Alcade de los Hijosdalgos, 131
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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