Spanish school; 19th century.

Spanish school; 19th century.
"Medieval scene".
Oil on panel.
Signed Gisbert in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 36 x 50 cm; 49 x 61 cm (frame).
Arranged as a frieze, the artist arranges a numerous group of characters, including animals. The scene recreates a medieval banquet starring a minstrel who adopts a completely theatrical gesture and a lady who stands out for the white of her headdress and dress, bringing light to the scene, who leans on the table admiring the minstrel in a dreamy way.
The costumes of the characters link the work to the aesthetic trend of 19th-century pictorial historicism, the main trend at the time, linked to the Academies of Fine Arts. The term "historicism" (Historismus) was coined by the German philosopher Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel. Over time, what historicism is and how it is practised has taken on different and divergent meanings. Elements of historicism appear in the writings of the French essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) and the Italian philosopher GB Vico (1668-1744), and were more fully developed with the dialectics of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), influential in nineteenth-century Europe.