Adelaide O'Dena

ADELAIDA O'DENA (Madrid, c. 1823-1853).
"Portrait of a gentleman of the Aguilera-Cerralbo family", 1845.
Oil on canvas.
It has flaws in the pictorial surface.
Presents inscription on the back.
Measurements: 64 x 53 cm; 89 x 75 cm (frame).
Portrait of gentleman that follows the taste of the epoch with the bust of the protagonist, trimmed on a neutral bottom slightly turned in three quarters. No attributes are visible except for the decoration hanging from the lapel of the coat. It is likely to be the cross of San Hermenegildo, a distinction and order created by Ferdinand VII in 1814, after the War of Independence.
Adelaida O'Dena de Estrada (who signed her works as Adelaida O-Dena) was an outstanding Spanish painter of the 19th century. She belonged to a generation of bourgeois women artists who began their artistic training by copying works by established masters. In 1844, she officially appeared as the first copyist in the Prado Museum, where she made numerous reproductions, sometimes collaborating with her brother Elías.
That same year, she was the protagonist of a public controversy when several newspapers reported her participation in the painting section of the Revista Semanal. As a reaction, her father published a statement in the Gaceta de Madrid denying that his daughter was the author of these texts, possibly because he considered that this type of activity was not appropriate for a woman of her position.
O'Dena was a member of the Liceo Artístico y Literario de Madrid, an institution to which both her father and her husband also belonged. She took part in several exhibitions organized by this entity between 1846 and 1849, as well as in previous competitions organized by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. In 1846 she presented works such as Eliezer and Rebeca and a Conception, as well as portraits, still lifes with flowers and copies of paintings from the Prado.
His artistic work also extended to the literary field, with the publication of several texts in magazines of the time. His talent was recognized by important figures of the cultural scene, such as José Zorrilla and María Mendoza de Vives, who dedicated poetic compositions to him.