Mariano Fortuny

MARIANO FORTUNY MARSAL (Reus, Tarragona, 1838 - Rome, 1874).
"Seated Roman knight".
Ink on paper.
Presents drawing on the back in ink and graphite.
Signed.
Measurements: 11 x 9 cm.
In this work, that Fortuny's privileged gifts for the drawing of the author are appreciated. Thematically, Fortuny conjugates the contrapposto and with certain Greco-Roman inspiration when presenting a seated toga knight. It is probable that this work served as a preparatory sketch for a larger painting.
Fortuny began his training at the Municipal Art School of Reus, and in 1850 he moved to Barcelona with his grandfather. There he continued his studies as a disciple of Domingo Talarn, and entered the School of Fine Arts, where he had as teachers Pablo Milá, Claudio Lorenzale and Luis Rigalt. At the same time he attends Lorenzale's private school, which will determine his inclination for romantic painting in this first stage. In 1858 he settles in Rome thanks to a scholarship, and attends the Chigi Academy. While he was there, the Diputación de Barcelona proposed him to travel to Morocco to paint the warlike encounters that were taking place in the area, which will give a total turn to his career. The light of Morocco and the exoticism of the place and its people lead him to become interested in aspects totally unknown in his previous production. In 1860 he visited Madrid, where he visited the Prado Museum and became interested in the works of Velázquez and Goya. Shortly after, he began a trip through Europe, and finally returned to Rome for good. He attends classes at the French Academy of Fine Arts at the Villa Medici, and in 1861 he visits Florence and comes into contact with the "macchiaioli". He returns to Morocco in 1862, and devotes himself to painting genre subjects in which he captures the movement through color and light. Back in Rome, he continued to focus on orientalist themes. Shortly after he travels to Paris and meets Adolphe Goupil, who will be his dealer from 1866. That same year he visits Madrid again and visits Toledo, where he discovers El Greco. In 1867 he exhibited in the studio of Federico de Madrazo, who became his father-in-law that same year. The following year he returned to Rome, and in 1870 he consolidated his international fame thanks to his exhibition in the Parisian gallery of Goupil. In these years he settled in Granada, in the Fonda de los Siete Suelos de la Alhambra, with the idea of tackling new themes with the greater freedom that commercial and critical success gave him. However, in 1872 he was forced to return to Rome, where he remained until his death. Mariano Fortuny is represented in the Prado Museum, the National Gallery in London, the Hispanic Society Museum in New York, the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Boston and the National Art Museum of Catalonia, among many others.