Spanish school; 19th century

Spanish school; end of the XIX century.
"The Vicar".
Oil on mahogany panel.
Preserves period frame with gilded stucco.
Measurements: 49 x 65 cm; 84 x 100 cm (frame).
This work largely follows the aesthetics and theme of the painting "The Vicarage", painted in 1870 by Mariano Fortuny, an oil on canvas of 60 x 94 cm currently preserved in the MNAC in Barcelona. Fortuny's work is a magnificent example of the so-called "casacones" painting, characterized by the meticulousness of the description and the sensibility of the light. "The Vicarage", was a masterpiece of Fortuny that the painter was maturing following his marriage, on November 27, 1867. Exhibited in Paris in 1870, the painting caused a real stir, and received flattering criticism from Teophile Gautier and Regnault, but the author of this copy is not interested in these aspects but in the expressiveness of the composition itself, characterized by an expressive play of full and empty spaces and a scenographic amplitude.
This type of scenes, with a gallant and hedonistic theme, cheerful and colorful, worked with a precious and descriptive workmanship, were frequent during the second half of the 19th century, within the context of historicism, and extended throughout the 20th century. They belong to the genre called "de casacones" in Spain, and "tableautin" in France, characterized by works inspired by an idealized past, frequently from the 17th and 18th centuries, normally of small or medium format and destined to an eminently bourgeois clientele.