Spanish school; late 19th century.

Spanish school; late 19th century. "Costumbrist scene". Oil on canvas. The original canvas is preserved. Measurements: 40,5 x 23,5 cm. Work whose theme is developed in an interior, that for the characteristics it looks like an inn, or a stable. In the foreground, a blurred figure is placed next to a donkey, while in the background three characters complete the scene. This work was formerly attributed to Eduardo Rosales. Born into a humble family, Rosales trained in the Nazarenism that dominated the Madrid Academy of Fine Arts at the time, where he entered in 1851 and was a pupil of Federico de Madrazo. Thanks to friends and colleagues, including the painters Palmaroli and Álvarez Catalá, Rosales travelled to Italy by his own means in 1857 in their company. Traditionally, Spanish painting and literature have been interested in popular customs and types. The arrival of Romanticism enlivened this trend, bringing to the Hispanic tradition the vision that foreigners had of our people, due to the snobbery of a Europeanising and liberal national bourgeoisie which, also due to foreign influence and under the Romantic fashion, turned its eyes to the people and monuments of the past. This, which was general throughout Spain, was particularly prevalent in Andalusia, as this land was the dream destination of foreigners, and where the influence of the vision they had of the Spaniards and their peculiar customs had to be felt most strongly. Thus, of the two fundamental costumbrista schools, the Sevillian school of painting is focused on a gentle, folkloric picturesqueness, far removed from any attempt at social criticism; the Madrid school, on the other hand, is more pungent and harsh, sometimes going so far as to depict not only the vulgar, but even recreating heartbreaking visions of a clichéd world, in which the spirit of criticism is evident. The Cadiz precursors Juan Rodríguez y Jiménez and Joaquín Manuel Fernández Cruzado were followed by a splendid development of the Seville school, in which foreign influence seems to have played an important role owing to the influx of artists and travellers to the city and the interest of foreign clients in the clichéd Spanish costumbrista scenes.