Spanish school; 20th century.

Spanish school; 20th century.
“Do you need a model?”
Oil on tinplate.
Measurements: 57 x 43 cm; 71 x 57 cm (frame).
An interesting composition in the costumbrista style that reproduces a painting by Fernando Cabrera Cantó, inspired by his famous work *¿Necesita usted modelo?*, created in 1901 and preserved in the permanent collection of the Gravina Museum of Fine Arts (MUBAG) in Alicante. The success of this work was confirmed by the second medal it won at the 1901 National Fine Arts Exhibition, as well as by the recognition it later received at the 1902 Paris Salon.
The scene, anecdotal and lighthearted in nature, depicts an episode from everyday life in which several young women offer themselves as models to a painter. The subject, treated with naturalness and a certain sense of humor, offers a gentle glimpse into the art world and its protagonists, transforming a seemingly trivial situation into a composition with narrative appeal. The painting captures the spirit of the original work, whose theme combines an observation of popular customs with a certain complicity between the characters and the viewer.
Fernando Cabrera Cantó (Alcoy, 1866–1937) was one of the leading figures in Alicante painting during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. Trained at the San Carlos School in Valencia, where he studied alongside Joaquín Sorolla, he later completed his training in Madrid and Rome, developing a career that blended realism, costumbrismo, and Mediterranean luminism.
His work underwent a significant evolution from the social realism and dramatic compositions of his early years toward a more luminous, spontaneous style rooted in the observation of everyday life. Central to this transformation was the influence of Valencian Luminism and, in particular, Sorolla’s pictorial sensibility.