Andalusian School; c. 1830-1840.

Andalusian School; c. 1830-1840.
"Couple of majos".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 21.5 x 16.5 cm; 40 x 35 cm (frame).
The new painting of customs of the XIX century was born as a way of interpreting a growing feeling of national conscience, now present in the middle class while it advanced towards the social hegemony. To a certain extent, the painters' concern was to deepen the vision of their country through a language, that of painting, that everyone could understand, thus helping the common people to understand the nature and meaning of their nationality, especially as it had manifested itself in the recent past, still alive in the memory of the elders. Of the two fundamental costumbrista schools of 19th century Spain, the one from Seville and the one from Madrid, the latter differs from the kindly picturesqueness of the former in its more pungent and harsh vision, sometimes going so far as to show not only the vulgar, but even recreating itself in torn visions of a clichéd world of the slums, in which the spirit of criticism is evident.