Circle of José Gutiérrez de la Vega

Circle of JOSÉ GUTIÉRREZ DE LA VEGA (Seville, 1791 - Madrid, 1865).
"The Milkmaid".
Oil on canvas.
It has restorations.
It has a 19th century frame.
Measurements: 80 x 61 cm; 93 x 72 cm (frame).
In spite of the innocent gesture of the protagonist, her look and the attitude that her face adopts show the spectator an image that has been captured with a great interest in the psychological representation of the young woman. Set in a dark interior and next to a table, the artist depicts the profile of a young milkmaid, which denotes a certain sense of taste for genre painting.
The vaporous finish of the portrait, together with the chromatic range used by the artist, brings us aesthetically close to the pictorial circle of the painter José Gutiérrez De La Vega. One of the great portraitists of the Romantic period and a fervent follower of Murillo, José Gutiérrez de la Vega trained at the Academy of Fine Arts of Santa Isabel de Hungría in Seville between 1802 and 1807. He began to paint portraits in 1816, and in his early works his typically Murilloesque vividness of tone and flesh tones, which, as some commentators have said, began to give him a reputation. Between 1818 and 1820 he stopped attending the Academy and devoted himself to making copies of Murillo, taking on the most complicated canvases by the master, on the sale of which he lived. However, he re-enrolled in 1821, perhaps thinking of becoming a teacher. Indeed, in 1925 he was appointed assistant painter. However, a few years later, in 1831, he decided to go to Madrid to try his luck at court. He was an academician of merit at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, although he never achieved the post of chamber painter, as it was only available when there were vacancies. Following the establishment of the Liceo Artístico y Literario de Madrid, Gutiérrez de la Vega became one of its most active members. He was also appointed director of the Seville School of Fine Arts, a post he held from 1839 until 1847 when, owing to his lengthy stays in Madrid, he had to leave. He was subsequently appointed professor of the elementary studies attached to the San Fernando Royal Academy. Gutiérrez de la Vega made his living mainly from portraiture, painting the effigies of prominent figures such as Isabella II (as an adult and as a child), the Marquis of Almonacid, the English traveller Richard Ford and Maria Cristina, the widow of Ferdinand VII. However, his passion for Murillo's work also led him to focus on religious painting, an oeuvre in which his Immaculate Conception is particularly noteworthy. Apart from portraiture and religious themes, the artist occasionally produced genre paintings. Gutiérrez de la Vega is currently represented in the Museo del Prado, the Real Academia de San Fernando, the Ministries of Public Works and Industry in Madrid, the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes in Malaga and the Museo Romántico in Madrid, among others.