Spanish school of the XIX century.

Spanish school of the XIX century.
"The beggar".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 122 x 96 cm; 148 x 121 cm (frame).

The painting that we show follows models of the Spanish Baroque. The game of hallmarks of light contrasts with expressive purposes recalls some works of Murillo or Zurbarán who endowed their figures with an emotional charge that appealed directly to the empathy of the spectator. The intense illumination on the young girl with a childlike face, who joins her hands in an imploring attitude, contrasts with the gloom that models the aged countenance of the bearded father, who holds his battered hat in his hand, using the upside-down cup as a container to receive coins. This visual and conceptual contrast between decadence and promise is typical of Spanish Baroque painting of religious or humanist inspiration. The influence of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo is especially palpable in the depiction of the poor and the underprivileged, in the purity of the faces that inspire compassion, with a focus on the humanity of the characters. The tenebrism and naturalistic treatment of the old man's weathered skin versus the idealized freshness of the girl reinforces this legacy.