Eugenio Lucas Velázquez

EUGENIO LUCAS VELÁZQUEZ (Madrid, 1817 - 1870).
"Orientalist scene".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower margin.
Measurements: 23 x 28 cm; 37 x 44 cm (frame).

We observe here the romantic temperament of Lucas Velázquez applied to an exotic subject, where the Arab architecture and the cavalry in movement melt in a vibrant and almost theatrical atmosphere. The loose, doughy and agitated brushwork, together with the powerful chiaroscuro, directly relates the piece to his Goyaesque universe, transferring that vehement energy to an oriental setting that he approached after his travels and his interest in the picturesque. It is a concise example of his ability to transform a narrative motif into an intense and dynamic vision.

The work of Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, a key figure of Spanish Romanticism and the most passionate heir of the Goyaesque universe, is today widely represented in important national and international institutions. Among them are the Museo del Prado, the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña and the Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, where his mastery of chiaroscuro and his boundless imagination can be appreciated. Outside Spain, his paintings are part of collections as relevant as the Musée Goya in Castres, the British Museum in London or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, testimony of the scope and prestige that his pictorial language -free, vehement and deeply Goyaesque- achieved beyond its borders.