Luis de Madrazo

LUIS DE MADRAZO Y KUNTZ (Madrid, 1825-Madrid, 1897).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents damage to the frame.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 22 x 17 cm; 36 x 31 cm (frame).
In the infantile portraits of Luis de Madrazo a delicate combination of realism and intimate sensibility is appreciated. His compositions usually place the child in a sober and elegant environment, where the attention is focused on the expression and character of the model. The polished technique and careful brushwork allow him to capture both the physical features and the liveliness or shyness of the infant, while the soft lighting enhances the smoothness of the skin and adds depth to the figure.
Son of José de Madrazo and brother of Federico and Pedro, Luis de Madrazo enjoyed great prestige in life, being first a professor (professor of Drawing of the Ancient and Ropajes) and then director of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving of Madrid, and recognized with honors such as the appointment of commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, as well as academic of number of the Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He cultivated religious and historical themes, although he was especially praised as a portraitist. He began his training with his father, and later expanded it at the Escuela de San Fernando, in Madrid. Already in 1845 we find him working, collaborating as an illustrator in "El Semanario Pintoresco". Later he will also work as a draftsman for the "Semanario Pintoresco Español". In 1848 he went to Rome to further his artistic studies at the National Academy of San Lucas and the French Academy of the Villa Medici. In Rome he came into contact with Friedrich Overbeck, through Antonio Solá. From the German romantic painter he received a powerful Nazarene influence, which can be seen from then on in his work. Later he will make a trip that will take him to Paris, Venice, Munich and Berlin, to finally return to Italy in the 1890s, settling in Pompeii with the painters Bernardino Montañés and Francisco Sáinz. He finally returned to Spain to begin his teaching career in San Fernando, and was introduced into the artistic circles of Madrid by his father and his brother Federico. With the latter he collaborated in the Prado Museum. As a painter, Luis de Madrazo devoted himself almost exclusively to portraiture, working for official bodies and also for the nobility. He made known his work, characterized by the purity of lines and the chromatic and luminous sharpness typical of the strictest Nazarene aesthetics, through various competitions and official exhibitions held both in Spain and abroad. Thus, in 1855 he obtained an important success at the Universal Exposition of Paris, and the following year he would win the first medal at the National Fine Arts of Madrid, for his work "Pelayo en Covadonga" (Pelayo in Covadonga). He was also awarded a silver medal at the Franco-Spanish Exhibition of 1864. Luis de Madrazo is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in the same city and other outstanding public and private collections.