Francisco de Paula

FRANCISCO DE PAULA DÍAZ Y CARREÑO (Seville, 1836 - Madrid, 1903).
"Portrait of Isabel II, 1853.
Oil on canvas.
Presents label on the back of the Board of Seizure and protection of artistic heritage.
Provenance: General Narváez.
Signed and dated in the lower right area.
Measurements: 63 x 53,5 cm; 73 x 62,5 cm (frame).
This work follows the official model of Queen Isabel II, established by Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz. The piece is inspired by Madrazo's version in the Spanish Embassy in Rome, although in this case only her bust is visible. The original piece shows a young Elizabeth II in her twenties dressed in a luxurious blue satin court dress adorned with lace ruffles and pearls. The queen, with her hair in two bandeaus over her face and gathered at the nape of her neck, wears a spectacular pear-shaped crown of diamonds and pearls from which is pinned a delicate lace veil. The neckline, wide and generous, allows her shoulders to be seen and is adorned with a splendid pearl necklace. The gallantry and solemnity that the protagonist manages to transmit, together with the delicate details of the painting made this piece by Madrazo, one of the most reproduced and copied, thus achieving great fame and dissemination.
Francisco de Paula Díaz studied law between 1852 and 1859. During that time, Díaz Carreño combined his law studies with drawing and painting at the Escuela Superior de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado on Alcalá Street. He was in the private studio of Federico de Madrazo during those years of apprenticeship and participated with a painting in the first National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1856, while still a 19-year-old student. In the catalog of the Exhibition, Díaz was recognized as a disciple of Federico.
Díaz Carreño did not participate in the next two national exhibitions of 1858 and 1860, although he continued his artistic studies until 1861. He moved to Rome, due to the concession by Isabel II of a scholarship to study there for two years. On his return to Madrid in 1864. After the death of his father he lost part of his well-to-do social position and was forced to increase his income by selling small genre paintings and copies of old masters made in the Prado Museum. Another source of income was his drawings, watercolors and scientific lithographs, and it is possible that in Federico de Madrazo's workshop he participated in the execution of some of the replicas of the official portraits made by the latter.