José María Romero

JOSÉ MARÍA ROMERO Y LÓPEZ (Seville, ca. 1815-ca. 1880).
"Portrait of Sevillian Jurist", c. 1850.
Oil on canvas.
Presents restorations.
Preserves period frame.
Measurements: 131 x 105 cm; 169 x 124 cm (frame).
We are in front of a seated portrait of a male character of the Spanish high bourgeoisie. He wears a black suit with a starched shirt underneath. The language is realistic, inscribed in the nineteenth-century figurative tradition in its desire to capture an almost photographic precision. However, the pictorial values stand out: the work of light shading the facial features, the rich qualities of the garments and the slightly rosy flesh tones.
Professor and academic of the School of Fine Arts of Seville, José María Romero worked for the Duke of Montpensier. In 1866 he moved to Madrid where he dedicated himself to portraiture, specializing in children's portraits. Among his works are "Ricardo and Federico Santaló" and "Enrique, Concepción and Salud Santaló", preserved in El Prado, and "El niño Eugenio de la Borbolla en traje de guardiamarina", preserved in the Romantic Museum of Madrid. He also cultivated genre painting, flower painting and religious painting, among whose production stands out "Imposición de la casulla a san Ildefonso", today housed in the cathedral of Cadiz. Romero y López also participated in several National Exhibitions of Fine Arts and won numerous awards.