Emilio Sala Francés

EMILIO SALA FRANCÉS (Alcoy, Alicante, 1850 - Madrid, 1910).
"Allegory of Fortune", c. 1880.
Oil on canvas.
Attached certificate of authenticity issued by Mr. Adrián Espí Valdés, expert in Valencian painting.
It presents restorations in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 200 x 126 cm; 225 x 145 cm (frame).
This work by Emilio Sala Francés masterfully represents the academic and eclectic taste typical of Spanish painting of the late nineteenth century. The composition shows a female figure enthroned on clouds, identified with Fortune, surrounded by winged sweethearts bearing various symbolic attributes in a celestial setting.
The treatment of light and color reveals the influence of Italian and French academicism, with a luminous palette and a polished brushstroke that lends an ethereal air to the scene. Sala, trained at the Royal Academy of San Fernando and a participant in the artistic environment of Madrid, combines in this work the classical idealization with a decorative tone, close to the allegorical symbolism that predominated in the official and ornamental commissions of his time.
Mythological and allegorical themes are recurrent in the production of Sala Francés, who cultivated history painting as well as portraiture and mural decoration. Works such as this one show his technical mastery and his inclination for elevated themes, treated with refinement and compositional balance. In "Allegory of Fortune", the artist achieves a dialogue between neoclassical tradition and romantic sensibility, synthesizing the ideal of beauty and virtuosity characteristic of his mature style.
Emilio Sala studied at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia, where he was a disciple of his cousin, the painter Plácido Francés. In 1871 he made his first trip to Madrid, where he dedicated himself to studying and copying the works of the masters of the Prado Museum, especially those of Velázquez. At that time he began his participation in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, obtaining first medals in the editions of 1878 and 1881. In 1885 he travels to Rome on a scholarship to study the Italian Renaissance, and there he befriends Francisco Padilla, Federico de Madrazo and Joaquín Sorolla. Later he exchanged his scholarship and moved to Paris, where he took part in the Universal Exhibition of 1889, obtaining a second medal. In 1891 he obtained the Gold Medal at the Berlin Exposition. He participated in the Salon des Beaux-Arts of the Champs Elysées for several years, with literary works, genre paintings and some portraits. From 1890 he moved away from history painting, much in demand in Spain but little valued in France, and devoted himself to genre painting, landscape and illustration, in publications such as "Blanco y Negro" or "La Ilustración Española y Americana". On his return to Spain he settled permanently in Madrid, and in 1906 he was created for him the chair of Theory and Aesthetics of Color at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Among his disciples were María Blanchard and Cecilio Pla, and he published "La gramática del color", a work that was used as a textbook in the Fine Arts Schools of Madrid and Barcelona. In the capital Sala opened his own studio, and took part in the decoration of the Palaces of Anglada and Mazarredo. He was appointed academician of merit at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and received the Cross of St. Michael (Munich, 1885) and the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1899). Emilio Sala's work is present in the Hispanic Society of New York, the Prado Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, the Municipal Fine Arts Museums of Granada, Valencia, l'Empordà, Cáceres, Santander and Málaga, the Lázaro Galdiano, the Camón Aznar, the Theater Museum in Almagro and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago de Chile, among many others.