EUGENIO LUCAS VILLAMIL (Madrid, 1858 - 1918).... Lot n° 50

EUGENIO LUCAS VILLAMIL (Madrid, 1858 - 1918). "Couple of majos". Oil on canvas. Preserves period frame. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 45 x 30 cm; 72 x 57 cm (frame). Two characters share the scene, located in the center a couple seems to enjoy a walk outdoors. The man, who holds a cane of support seems to guide and to indicate something to the woman, who, supported on the arm of her companion, fixes the look attentively in something that remains out of the scene. The clothes of both, with their measurements, the man's frock coat and the lady's mantilla, indicate that we are dealing with the representation of two majos. This link with the representation of fashion reached its maximum popularity during the 19th century, linked to the development of male fashion and the appearance of social figures such as the English dandy or the Spanish petimetre. As for the scene that represents a gallant theme, the image is defined to the viewer by offering a complacent, idyllic theme, which portrays a scene rescued from everyday life from a cheerful and carefree perspective. Son of the painter Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, also a follower of Francisco de Goya, he inherited from his father the speed and ease in the use of the brush. His brushstroke, short and thick, denounces his deep admiration for the great Spanish masters, such as Velázquez, Carreño, Murillo and, above all, Goya. His painting moves away from academicism and is loose and undone, impastoed and of great chromatic richness, while his subjects speak of the people and their customs. He studied at the Special School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving in Madrid, where he stood out for his mastery as a draftsman. He completed his training by assiduously visiting the Prado Museum, where he copied several works by Goya. He also frequented the intellectual circles of Madrid at the end of the 19th century, until he was discovered by the patron José Lázaro Galdiano, who named him his chamber painter and commissioned him to decorate his palace in Parque Florido. Among the distinctions he received during his lifetime was that of Knight of the Order of Carlos III. Lucas Villamil's work is preserved in the National Gallery in Washington D. C., the Lázaro Galdiano and Mapfre Foundations in Madrid, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Havana, Badajoz and Alava, the J. Paul Getty Museum in California, the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián, the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the Camón Aznar Museum.