Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer

VALERIANO DOMÍNGUEZ BÉCQUER (Seville, 1833 - Madrid, 1870).
Untitled, 1866.
Oil on canvas.
Presents the canvas unstretched.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 105 x 75 cm.
This painting by Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer is an example of his skill for the costumbrista and bourgeois portrait, in which he combines technical precision with a deep human sensitivity.The work shows two children portrayed with tenderness and realism, probably siblings, sitting on a carved wooden chair with seat upholstered in a rich fabric of floral motifs. The girl, dressed in a light blue dress adorned with white lace and ruffles, poses with serenity and maturity, while she puts her arm around the boy, who wears a dark suit with a large checkered ribbon and holds a rope or toy whip. The closeness between the two, together with their direct and confident gazes towards the viewer, gives the scene an intimate and familiar air.

Son of the costumbrista painter José, Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer was soon orphaned, growing up with his brother Gustavo Adolfo under the protection of his maternal uncles, and guided in painting by his uncle Joaquín, also a painter of customs and professor at the School of Fine Arts in Seville. He remained in his uncle's workshop until 1853, and in 1862 he settled permanently in Madrid. Three years later, on a scholarship from the Ministry, he travels through the lands of Soria, Aragon, Navarre and the Basque Country, studying the Spanish types, costumes and customs, creating scenes of great charm captured in the immediacy, from village to village. In 1868 the scholarship was withdrawn due to the political change, and since then he will subsist thanks to collaborations as a draftsman and writer in "El Museo Universal", "El Arte en España" and "La Ilustración Española y Americana".