Augusto Manuel de Quesada

AUGUSTO MANUEL DE QUESADA Y VÁZQUEZ (Seville, 1824 - 1891).
"Portrait of a young man", ca. 1850.
Oil on canvas.
Period frame, with faults.
Measurements: 125 x 92 cm; 145 x 113 cm (frame).

In this portrait we see a young man elegantly dressed in a costume reminiscent of the clothing of an adult. This idea is favored with the pose that the model adopts and the sober gesture of his face. Portrayed with a long bust, the young man is leaning on a book that is part of the props of the room in which he is immersed. The dominant chromatic range revolves around cold and dark colors, in a sober and restrained intonation typical of the portrait painting of this time.

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 portraiture 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".