MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ DE GUZMÁN (Seville, 1818 - Madrid,... Lot 48

MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ DE GUZMÁN (Seville, 1818 - Madrid, 1867). "Popular Festival in Seville", c. 1840. Oil on canvas. Re-coloured. Size: 70 x 96 cm; 92 x 120 cm (frame). The Seville Fair was painted for the first time by Andrés Cortés in 1852, and was an enormous popular success, so that other artists, such as Rodríguez de Guzmán himself, immediately repeated the theme with their own personality. An outstanding painter specialising in Andalusian genre and folk scenes, Rodríguez de Guzmán began his training at the Santa Isabel de Hungría Academy of Fine Arts in Seville. There he was a pupil of José Domínguez Bécquer, who introduced him to genre painting and under whose guidance the painter spent his early years. He gradually began to produce paintings of greater compositional commitment, set in larger scenes than those of his early works. Attracted by Isabella II's interest in his paintings, in 1854 he settled in Madrid with the intention of working as a court painter. This interest crystallised in a proposal that Rodríguez de Guzmán submitted to the queen, which consisted of a broad series of paintings depicting the various festivals, fairs and pilgrimages held in Spain, undertaking to produce one painting of this type a year. Although he was unable to complete the project, the painter produced several works that became part of the royal collection, including his masterpiece, "La feria de Santiponce" ("The Santiponce Fair"). A friend of Antonio María Esquivel, he participated assiduously in the National Fine Arts Exhibitions, receiving an honourable mention in 1858 for his work "Rinconete y Cortadillo", inspired by Cervantes' "Exemplary Novels". Rodríguez de Guzmán's activity in Madrid enjoyed special official predilection, as the State acquired two works from him in 1864, now unaccounted for, entitled "Las habaneras" and "Gitana diciendo la buenaventura a unos gallegos" (Gypsy Woman Saying Good Fortune to some Galicians). He also worked on bullfighting and history themes and even portraits, the latter of which are marked by a technical casualness reminiscent of Goya, perhaps stemming from his deep friendship with the painter Eugenio Lucas. His painting was characterised by brilliant colouring and a great facility for capturing popular types with naturalism and instantaneity, organised into scenes full of minutely described figures. His art is also notable for its mastery of composition and for the use of an agile, undone brushstroke, which lends great vitality to his scenes.