Spanish school; c. 1790.

Spanish school; c. 1790.
"Allegory of painting".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 67 x 104 cm; 78 x 116 cm (frame).
Scene of allegorical character, where the author has portrayed three small angels in the foreground. Two of them are swirling over a sketchbook, one holding it and the other one with a painter's palette. The other protagonist holds a hammer or a kind of gouge that indicates that he is sculpting the bust to which he directs his gaze and which represents the conquistador Hernán Cortes. At the feet of this angel, another discarded bust can be seen, which is not finished, thus indicating that the artistic exercise is not idyllic, but is based on discipline.
Allegorical paintings emerged from the Middle Ages with the intention of exalting the qualities and situations of life. This type of portraits were used to exalt the qualities of a particular character, such as kings, or recognized personalities. In fact, during the neoclassicism this trend was again in vogue. In this particular case it is not about a recognized character, but the painter wanted to reflect the initial concept of the use of allegory in pictorial art.