Augusto Manuel de Quesada

AUGUSTO MANUEL DE QUESADA Y VÁZQUEZ (Seville, 1824 - 1891).
"Portrait of a gentleman, 1878.
Oil on canvas.
Preserves period frame with faults.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 125 x 92 cm; 142 x 110 cm (frame).
In this portrait we see an elegantly dressed gentleman, portrayed with a long bust and slightly turned, as usual in the official portrait painting of the time. The protagonist of the scene is haughty and distant with respect to the viewer, with one gloved hand and the other relaxed on the back of a chair whose ornamentation harmonizes with the romantic style cabinet in which the figure is inscribed.
The pictorial activity of Augusto Manuel de Quesada can be framed in Romanticism and Costumbrismo. His work is influenced by the style of Murillo and dedicated to portraits and religious themes. He studied between 1835 and 1843 at the School of the Academy of Noble Arts of St. Elizabeth of Seville, today the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Seville. According to E. Valdivieso, he is considered a secondary painter of limited talent. According to this author, his paintings show "weakness of drawing and coldness in his coloring". However, during his lifetime, he received several awards. In 1842 he was awarded by the Economic Association of Friends of the Country of Seville for several copies of paintings made. His paintings "Nuestra Señora del Carmen" and "Santa Casilda" were awarded in 1858 at the Exhibition of the Economic Society of Jerez de la Frontera, with bronze medal and honorable mention, respectively. The painting "Nuestra Señora del Carmen" was also exhibited at the National Exhibition in Madrid in 1864, and his work "San Juan" was awarded a silver medal at the exhibition held in Cadiz in 1862. The Dukes of Montpensier had two of his paintings in their Palace of San Telmo: "La Virgen de los Reyes, adorada por San Fernando y San Luis" and "El Milagro de los panes y los peces".