Andalusian School; end of the XIX century.

Andalusian School; late nineteenth century.
"Spanish scene".
Oil on canvas.
Presents apocryphal signature in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 80 x 65 cm; 106 x 90 cm (frame).
This painting of the Spanish school of the end of the XIX century represents a lively street scene in a Mediterranean town, probably in Andalusia. The composition shows a group of people dressed in traditional costumes, enjoying a moment of leisure in a narrow, sunny street.
In the foreground, four figures are gathered around a seated woman in a pink dress, who seems to be the center of attention. A man with a guitar or lute plays music while another woman, dressed in yellow and with flowers in her hair, appears to be conversing with her. On the left, an older man in a dark vest and light-colored pants observes the scene with a relaxed air, while on the right, a figure in a dark jacket and high boots leans in, perhaps to say something. The painting exhibits a realistic technique with a warm, luminous palette, with an emphasis on light and shadow, characteristic of Spanish costumbrismo. The scene captures the essence of daily life, highlighting the music, dress and social interactions of southern Spain at the time.
During the 19th century, painters and literati from all over Europe, including France, visited Spain in search of a country that offered them the quintessence of romantic idealism. Progress in communications made Spain an exotic, yet nearby destination for young European painters who rejected the industrial bourgeoisie and the poverty of spirit that was plaguing the ever-growing big cities. In fact, after the War of Independence our country began to acquire an aura of exoticism and extravagance that attracted a good number of European intellectuals and artists. The Moorish Andalusia, the bandit, the obscurantist Church, the handsome bullfighter and the maja, the lady with mantilla, the barefoot children, the beggar full of rags, Cervantes' gitanilla... Paintings like the one we present here bring us closer to the essence of romanticism, to the exaltation of the soul as a response to an era that placed the cloth on the altar of Reason. To achieve this goal, Romantic painters stopped subordinating color to drawing, thus reproducing pictorial motifs with more expressive force and greater naturalism. The brushstroke becomes impetuous, the color reaches its autonomy, the impasto is thicker, etc.