Julio Romero de Torres

JULIO ROMERO DE TORRES (Cordoba, 1874 - 1930).
"Orientalist portrait", 1889.
Oil on panel.
Presents slight restoration in the upper area.
Signed in the upper right corner.
Measurements: 18 x 11.5 cm; 34 x 28 cm (frame).
This Orientalist Portrait, painted by Julio Romero de Torres at the early age of fifteen, already offers a sample of his pictorial sensibility and his inclination for the exotic and evocative subjects. Painted with an earthy palette and a loose brushstroke, the portrait presents a bearded man wearing a turban, framed by a dense and warm atmosphere that underlines the mystery of the character. The technique, although still in formation, reveals a surprising fluency in the modeling of the face and an expressive use of light, which preludes the artistic maturity of the Cordovan painter. The interest in the oriental, common in nineteenth-century aesthetics, is manifested here not so much for ethnographic rigor, but as a vehicle for introspection and exoticism, in accordance with the symbolist sensibility of the time. The work, which was a personal gift from the artist to Rafael Pellicer, also has an affective and documentary value, as it is situated in the beginnings of one of the most representative figures of Andalusian painting at the turn of the century.
Julio Romero de Torres was born in an intellectual and artistic environment, which decidedly favored his vocation. His father, Rafael Romero de Barros, was also a painter and curator of the Museum of Fine Arts in Cordoba. Julio Romero began his training in 1884, combining classes at the Conservatory of Music with his father's drawing and painting classes. In 1890 we find his first known work, "La huerta de Morales", and in 1895 he entered for the first time in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, with "Mira qué bonita era", a work that earned him an honorable mention and was acquired by the State. In 1897 he opted for the Rome prize, although he did not win the scholarship, and in 1902 he began his teaching career at the School of Fine Arts in Cordoba. The following year he moved to Madrid to learn first hand about the mural painting of the symbolists, after receiving his first major commission, a series of murals dedicated to the arts for the Círculo de la Amista de Córdoba. In this project his work still shows the influence of Puvis de Chavannes. Julio Romero then remained in Madrid, in contact with the circle of Valle-Inclán and Machado, frequenting the gatherings of the Café de Levante while maturing his own style. In 1906 he sent "Vividoras del amor" to the Nacional, a work that was rejected because of its scandalous subject matter. In Madrid he will become known through exhibitions such as the one at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in 1907, and he matures the idea of a trip to Europe that will mark a definitive change in his language, a clear desire for change. He continues to participate in the National Exhibitions, and in 1908 his work "The Gypsy Muse" is acquired by the State and earns him a first medal. This triumph will make that his paintings are sent to exhibitions held abroad, in Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. The definitive recognition came in 1910, when he was awarded the Order of Alfonso X the Wise and was appointed inspector of the delegation and royal commissariat at the Art Exhibition in Rome. The following year he was awarded the gold medal at the National Fine Arts of Barcelona, and shortly after he was appointed full member of the Academy of Sciences, Fine and Noble Arts of Cordoba. Julio Romero, however, continued to live in Madrid, frequenting the Café Pombo gathering since 1913. Two years later a special room was dedicated to him at the National Exhibition, and in 1916 he was appointed professor at the Academy of San Fernando. During these years of success and recognition, his studio, in Madrid's Pelayo Street, became the center of gatherings and meetings. However, in 1928 he was forced to return to Cordoba for health reasons, although this did not prevent him from continuing to paint in his studio in the Plaza del Potro. In fact, in 1930, the same year of his death, he participated in the Ibero-American Exposition of Seville with a total of twenty-eight paintings. Although, like many of his contemporaries, Julio Romero began his career cultivating a regionalist work that would evolve along the lines of symbolism, the master would reach the maturity of his personal style around 1912, with a language that combines the Andalusian popular feeling and authentic folklore with the Renaissance tradition of Italian art. At a formal level, Julio Romero expressed himself through a precise drawing, the basis of balanced compositions, on which a personal palette of blue, green and, above all, black tones is developed, giving his work a special lyrical, even mysterious accent. Currently, works by Julio Romero are preserved in the museum that bears his name in Cordoba, the Prado (works attached to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía), the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, Cordoba and Asturias, the National Fine Arts Museum of Buenos Aires, the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga, the Provincial Council of Cordoba, the Abbey of Cordoba, the Abbey of Cordoba, the Abbey of Cordoba, the Abbey of Cordoba, the Abbey of Cordoba and the Abbey of Cordoba, the Diputación de Córdoba, the Abadía de Montserrat, the Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, the art collections of Caja Canarias, the CajaSur collection, the Caja Rural de Córdoba, the Santander collection, the Prasa Foundation and other outstanding public and private collections.