Brothers de Madrazo y Kuntz: Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz and Federico and Luis de Madrazo y Kuntz.

FEDERICO DE MADRAZO Y KUNTZ (Rome, 1815 - Madrid, 1894) and LUIS DE MADRAZO Y KUNTZ (Madrid, 1825 - 1897).
"Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee", 1842.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Copy of the work "Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee" in 1737 by Pierre Subleyras (France 1699 - 1749) located in the Louvre Museum.
Measurements: 56 x 120 cm, 87 x 151 cm.

This oil painting represents the moment in which Mary of Bethany bends down to wash Jesus' feet, in the house of Simon the Pharisee, according to the episode described in the Gospel of Luke. The Madrazo brothers have taken the subject as an excuse to develop a scene full of luxury in its classically inspired architecture, in the description of the food, the hustle and bustle of the servants, and the variety of types and attire. Known to be a woman of bad life, Mary washes the feet of the Messiah with her own tears, then wipes them with her hair. The Pharisee who had invited Jesus then thought that Jesus was a false prophet, since he had not realized the kind of person who was touching him. Jesus then explained to him, with a parable, how he whom you forgive the most, loves you the most. After this, he told the woman that her sins were forgiven. They manage to reflect the scene perfectly, with Simon indignant at the events, Magdalene with her long blond hair drying the Lord's feet, and the Lord showing love to her. The rest of the men seated around the table, in gestures and countenances show their displeasure.

Federico de Madrazo, son of the neoclassical painter José de Madrazo, studied at the school of Alberto Lista, in Madrid, and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. A precocious painter, he was admitted as an academician of merit in San Fernando at the age of sixteen. In 1832 he went to Paris to study painting with Ingres, a friend of his father. There he acquired a romantic style in the French manner. In 1840 he continued his training in Rome, where he came into contact with the Nazarenes and, in particular, with Overbeck, which reinforced his drawing skills, already important in his style thanks to what he had learned from his father and Ingres. Two years later he returned to Spain, becoming a painter of great prestige, much sought after as a portrait painter by the aristocracy of Madrid. Chamber painter to Queen Isabella II, he was the great official portraitist of the time. His portraits were characterized by the simplicity and naturalness of his models, and by a distant serenity, intimately linked to the romantic feeling. He was also director of the Prado Museum, a position he held, albeit interrupted, for thirty years until his death. He also directed the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He developed a brilliant career as a history painter and, especially, as a portrait painter, achieving great prestige in the artistic circles not only in Madrid, but also in Paris and Rome. His production evolves from a painting where the purism of the line and the careful detailing predominate towards a more fluid and spontaneous technique, of greater expressive depth. He is represented in the Prado Museum, the National Museum of the Palace of Versailles, the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao, the Lázaro Galdiano Foundation and the Romantic Museum of Madrid, among others.

Luis de Madrazo, son of José de Madrazo and brother of Federico and Pedro, enjoyed great prestige in life, being first a professor (professor of Drawing of the Ancient and Ropajes) and then director of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving of Madrid, and recognized with honors such as the appointment of commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, as well as academic of number of the Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He cultivated religious and historical themes, although he was especially praised as a portraitist. He began his training with his father, and later expanded it at the Escuela de San Fernando, in Madrid. Already in 1845 we find him working, collaborating as an illustrator in "El Semanario Pintoresco". Later he will also work as a draftsman for the "Semanario Pintoresco Español". In 1848 he went to Rome to further his artistic studies at the National Academy of San Lucas and the French Academy of the Villa Medici. In Rome he came into contact with Friedrich Overbeck, through Antonio Solá. From the German romantic painter he received a powerful Nazarene influence, which can be seen from then on in his work. Later he will make a trip that will take him to Paris, Venice, Munich and Berlin, to finally return to Italy in the 1890s, settling in Pompeii with the painters Bernardino Montañés and Francisco Sáinz. He finally returned to Spain to begin his teaching career in San Fernando, and was introduced into the artistic circles of Madrid by his father and his brother Federico. With the latter he collaborated in the Prado Museum. As a painter, Luis de Madrazo devoted himself almost exclusively to portraiture, working for official bodies and also for the nobility. He made known his work, characterized by the purity of lines and the chromatic and luminous sharpness typical of the strictest Nazarene aesthetics, through various competitions and official exhibitions held both in Spain and abroad. Thus, in 1855 he obtained an important success at the Universal Exposition of Paris, and the following year he would win the first medal at the National Fine Arts of Madrid, for his work "Pelayo en Covadonga" (Pelayo in Covadonga). He was also awarded a silver medal at the Franco-Spanish Exhibition of 1864. Luis de Madrazo is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in the same city and other outstanding public and private collections.