Spanish school of the XIX century. Circle of EUGENIO... Lot 17

Spanish school of the XIX century. Circle of EUGENIO LUCAS VELÁZQUEZ (Madrid, 1817 - 1870). "Rural Mass". Oil on copper. Measurements: 20 x 26 cm; 45 x 50 cm (frame). By its aesthetic and formal characteristics, the work that occupies us can be ascribed to the circle of Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, whose works were characterized by the use of a spirited brushstroke and uninhibited invoice, without drawing concerns, with a dense and impastoed matter of great chromatic richness and with the presence of strong chiaroscuro. Lucas Velázquez achieved great success as a painter of manners and scenes of fantastic and sinister character, as well as with a multitude of characters, although it is true that he was also an excellent landscape painter and portraitist. Eugenio Lucas was the Spanish romantic artist who best understood Goya's art. Trained in the neoclassicism of the Academy of San Fernando, he soon turned his training around and devoted himself to studying Velázquez and, above all, Goya, whose works he admired and copied in the Prado Museum. From the master, Lucas will develop a personal and imaginative painting, of fantastic visions and unleashed passions. Apart from his Goyaesque themes, in 1850 he painted the now disappeared ceiling of the Teatro Real in Madrid, and later he was named honorary chamber painter and knight of the order of Carlos III by Queen Isabel II. As a good romantic, he made several trips, among which his stays in Italy, Morocco and Paris stand out. He achieved great success as a painter of manners and scenes of fantastic and sinister character, although it is true that he was also an excellent landscape painter and portraitist. His work is well represented in the Prado Museum, and also in other centers such as the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Goya Museum in Castres (France).