Gerardo Meléndez and Conejo

GERARDO MELÉNDEZ Y CONEJO (Orense, 1856 - active in 1905).
"Fiesta goyesca".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower corner.
Measurements: 60 x 90 cm; 76 x 106 cm (frame).

In this painting of costumbrista subject, Gerardo Meléndez leaves constancy of his gifts to squeeze the vivacity of the popular genius expressed in the gallantries, in the pizpiretos gestures, slanted looks and colorful suits. Although made in the second half of the 19th century, Meléndez places the pilgrimage in the previous century, as the doublets and other costumes are genuinely eighteenth-century.

Gerardo Meléndez y Conejo was a Spanish painter, draftsman and engraver. A native of Orense, he was a disciple in Madrid of the Escuela Superior de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving). He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid, perfecting his learning in the Prado Museum where he is registered in the register of copyists in 1867 and 1873, with his father Julian, who was an employee of the public treasury, as guarantor. He obtained his first triumph at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1874 when he was awarded an honorable mention for the work "A mass in the chapel of the bishop of Madrid". His oil paintings "Un capricho" and "Las blancas dan mate en tres jugadas" appeared in the National Exhibition of 1876; "Las flores de Mayo" and "Presentación de una esclava al scherif de Tánger", in the Exhibition of León that year; "El padre Feijóo terminando su Teatro crítico", was awarded in Orense; "La abuela" (reproduced in the newspaper La Niñez), "El pueblo de Zaragoza poniendo en libertad a Antonio Pérez" (reproduced in the newspaper La Academia). Also dedicated to wood drawing, he made works for La Ilustración Militar, La Ilustración Gallega y Asturiana, La Ilustración Española, La Niñez, Mundo Cómico, Gil Blas, Los Niños, El Solfeo, novels, education books and almanacs. He also cultivated lithography and wood engraving. A biography of him appears in volume 34 of the Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana.