Ignacio León y Escosura

IGNACIO LEÓN Y ESCOSURA (Oviedo, 1834 - Toledo, 1901).
"Gallant scene", 1869.
Oil on panel.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
It has very slight flaws in the edges.
Measurements: 30 x 24 cm.

In this work, León y Escosura shows us an image inspired in the XVIII century starring two ladies dressed in the manner of the time. The scene takes place in an ostentatious interior decorated with a large tapestry and a small painting hanging on the wall. Both women appear to be in the middle of a conversation, as their active postures indicate. Presumably, one of them has taken a letter out of a wooden chest and is about to pass it to her companion, who rises fleetingly from her chair to pick it up. The work is part of the genre of casacones, very much to the taste both in Spain at the time and in Paris. The composition brings an enormous instantaneity to the image, reinforcing this naturalism, this impression of an open window to the past that 19th century painters sought so much.

Ignacio León y Escosura began his training at the School of Fine Arts in La Coruña, and later moved to Madrid to complete his studies at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, with Federico de Madrazo as his teacher. He also studied abroad, with stays in Paris and Rome, where he traveled as a pensioner. He participated in various European exhibitions, such as the Berlin Exhibition of 1886, the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889, the Madrid International Exhibition of 1892 and the Munich Exhibition of 1897. In the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts of Madrid he obtained several prizes: honorary mention (1862 and 1864), decoration (1881 and 1892) and second medal (1867). In the Universal Exhibition of London in 1886 he was also awarded the second medal. The quality of his paintings is shown by the fact that, without his intention, two of his works were exhibited in the Louvre Museum as authentic Velázquez and Murillo. Works by León y Escosura are currently preserved in the Prado Museum, the Metropolitan and Brooklyn Museums in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias, among others.