José Benlliure

JOSÉ BENLLIURE GIL (Valencia, 1855 - 1937).
"In the Cellar".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 21.5 x 32.5 cm; 33 x 45 cm (frame).
José Benlliure cultivated genre themes and portraits. In the present case, we are faced with a purely costumbrista scene. It depicts several figures around a table in what would have been a wine cellar. The scene plays with the light and the leftovers, creating various spaces. The main part of the scene features the figures seated at the table while a woman brings them a plate of food; the next scene is on the right, with a man eating, less well lit. The last scene, on the left, is free of characters and shows a staircase in semi-darkness. In short, we find a piece with exceptional detail, where every face, every architecture and every detail is worked to the millimetre, it is a piece with a lot of light as the central scene is very colourful.
José Benlliure began his artistic studies with Francisco Domingo in Valencia, later continuing his training in Madrid, where he settled in 1869. From an early age he enjoyed the patronage of the King of Savoy and in 1879 he moved to Rome, where he was discovered by the important art dealer Martin Colnaghi, who financed his studies in the city.
In 1897 he made several trips to Tangiers, Algeria and Morocco, where he approached the everyday world of the places he visited through a realistic, luminous and loose style of painting. From 1900 onwards his work depicts popular themes. He took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, winning third medals in the editions of 1876 and 1878 and first in that of 1887. He belonged to the Academies of San Fernando (Madrid), San Lucas (Rome), San Carlos (Valencia), Brera (Milan) and Munich. Between 1904 and 1912 he directed the Spanish Academy in Rome. The most important part of his production is kept in Valencia, in his Casa Museo and in the San Pío V Fine Arts Museum. He is also represented in the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Palace of Charles V in Granada, among others.