Rosario Weiss

ROSARIO WEISS ZORRILLA (Madrid, 1814- 1843).
"Queen Isabella II".
Pencil on paper.
Attached report by Carlos Sánchez Díez, chief curator of the Museo Lázaro Galdiano.
It has an Italian frame from the 18th century.
Provenance: Félix Boix.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 14 x 11.2 cm; 29 x 25 cm (frame).

According to the words of the expert Mr. Carlos Sánchez Díez, chief curator of the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid". This pencil-on-paper portrait was included in the section Drawings not located in the catalog published in 2018 on the occasion of the exhibition Drawings by Rosario Weiss (1814-1843)'. At the time its whereabouts were unknown. It was known that the drawing had been exhibited in Madrid in 1922 when it belonged to Félix Boix, collector and curator of that exhibition, who had titled it Portrait of a Girl. Looking at the drawing now, since it was not reproduced in Boix's catalog, and observing the face of this young woman, it is easy to identify the features of the eldest daughter of Ferdinand VII and Maria Cristina de Bourbon. On the other hand, there is no doubt that it is the drawing exhibited in 1922, since it coincides with the description ("Portrait of a girl. Half figure turned to her left; looking almost straight ahead"), the technique ("black pencil on white paper"), the signature ("R. Weiss") and the dimensions. In addition, it has now been possible to reveal part of its history, since after Boix's death (1858-1932) the drawing passed to his son Félix Boix y Sáenz, who sold or gave it to his friend Pedro Araluce López de Urquiza (Bilbao, 1891 - Madrid, 1974), a collector, decorator and furniture manufacturer in Madrid3. Araluce gave it as a gift in the 1960s to the current owner, the daughter of an employee, who was unaware that it came from the collector Boix and that he had exhibited it in 1922.

The composition of the portrait, a three-quarter figure slightly turned to his left and with his face towards the viewer, is quite common in Weiss's catalog. The realistic style is also characteristic, although, being a quick sketch taken from life, it does not have the meticulous and neat finish that can be found in other portraits of the same period such as, for example, Mesonero Romanos. As for the technique, the fast and sure pencil stroke is very recognizable both in the contour drawing and in the lines that define the face or the costume. So is the way of working the shading, incipient but successful, with simple patterns of parallel and crossed lines. In addition, it is also common in Weiss the higher level of finish of the face and hair compared to the rest, as well as the absence of elements that refer to the space where the figure is located.

From the appearance of the young girl and the artist's biography, it is most likely that the drawing was made during the first half of 1843, so the queen would have been represented at the age of twelve, shortly before the death of her teacher and author of the portrait, who died in Madrid on July 31 of that year. Weiss was the drawing teacher of Isabel and Luisa Fernanda de Borbón from January 18, 1842 until her death, although she had been going to the Royal Palace at least since October 1841, according to Pérez Galdós in the Episodios Nacionales. It must have been the daily contact with the queen that led to the execution of this portrait of intimate and natural tone, more realistic than the idealized image of the oil painting that Vicente López had painted a year earlier. Given the sketchy nature of the drawing, it is very likely that it is a first sketch that would serve Weiss to work slowly -without the presence of the model- on a perfectly finished portrait of his pupil, a project that was surely frustrated by her sudden death. The drawing has the peculiarity of preserving an original carved and gilded frame, characteristic of the second half of the 18th century".