Attributed to Francisco Lameyer

Attributed to FRANCISCO LAMEYER Y BERENGUER (Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, 1825-Madrid, 1877).
"Maja with fan.
Oil on canvas.
Size: 32 x 24 cm; 44,5 x 37 cm (frame).
In this work the painter offers us an image of great plastic expressiveness, with a simple composition in which we see a bust-length woman, in the foreground, in front of a neutral background which enhances her presence. The result is striking for its truthful and convincing depiction of the woman's personality: a calm character with a sad look in her eyes.
Aesthetically the work is largely reminiscent of the paintings of Lameyer y Berenguer, who was born in El Puerto de Santa María but whose family moved to Madrid when he was still a child. As soon as he was old enough he began to work with Vicente Castelló's engraver. He subsequently contributed to El Siglo Pintoresco, a magazine founded by Castelló. In 1841 he entered the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with José de Madrazo, met his son Luis and, through him, became friends with the entire Madrazo family. Two years later, driven by the need to support his family, he joined the Spanish navy as an administrative officer. Although this prevented him from pursuing his artistic career, he continued to work in his spare time; completing 125 drawings for Serafín Estébanez Calderón's Escenas Andaluzas (published in 1847). From 1854 to 1859 he was in the Philippines, where he directed the police station. He returned to Spain in 1860. In 1863 he accompanied Marià Fortuny (whom he had met through the Madrazos) on a trip to Morocco, where he visited Tangiers and Tetouan. The country was still in some disarray due to the recent Spanish-Moroccan war. This served as inspiration for his best-known work, The Assault of the Moors, which depicts an 18th-century raid on the Jewish quarter of Tetouan. On returning to Madrid he set up a studio and began to create paintings from the sketches he had made. From 1872 to 1873 he visited Egypt and Palestine. While in Egypt he acquired several antiquities, which he sold to the Spanish National Archaeological Museum, thus relieving some of his financial burdens. He continued to live in Madrid, but made frequent trips to Paris; partly due to the political instability in Spain that resulted in the Third Carlist War.