Spanish school; XIX century.

Spanish school; XIX century.
"Portraits".
Oil paintings on boards.
Measurements: 32,5 x 24,5 cm (x2).
Pair of portraits painted on painter's palettes, an artistic resource of remarkable originality and symbolism within the context of the Spanish school of the 19th century. These palettes not only retain their material function as the artist's working tool, with the visible traces of pigment mixtures on the edges, but are transformed into a pictorial support and symbolic object, merging the act of creating with the final result.
In the first palette, a woman of serene expression poses in a natural environment, with a background of vegetation and open sky, while in the second, a man of distinguished bearing, with beard and formal suit, is cut out on a denser background, covered with loose brushstrokes that recall the very matter of painting. Both portraits, meticulously worked, are integrated into the curved surface of the palette, as if emerging from the still fresh paint.
This type of work is part of a tradition with illustrious precedents, such as Joaquín Sorolla, who also used his palettes as alternative canvases, transforming them into personal tributes, self-portraits or tributes to artistic practice. In this context, the palette is not only a symbol of the painter's identity, but also an intimate testimony of the creative process, charged with personal and professional meaning.