MARIANO FORTUNY I MARSAL (Reus, Tarragona, 1838 - Rome, 1874). "Don Quixote". Oil on canvas. Re-drawn. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 41 x 31 cm; 58 x 49 cm (frame). In an austere interior, the artist places an elderly character contemplating attentively a sword. The self-absorption of the protagonist, together with the light treatment that falls through the window and rests on the metal and part of the man's face, give rise to an intimate and somewhat epic atmosphere. Fortuny seems to capture the moment in which the knight, after having stripped himself of his weapons after the battle, seems to see the damage that the battle has inflicted on his inseparable companion, the sword. The artist opted to create an image that portrays a more intimate Quixote, far removed from the dynamism of his anecdotes, far from Sancho, alone and reflective. The theme was not alien to Fortuny, who had already dealt with it between 1852 and 1856, as can be seen in a work belonging to the collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña. Fortuny began his training at the Municipal School of Art in Reus, and in 1850 he moved to Barcelona with his grandfather. There he continued his studies as a disciple of Domingo Talarn and enrolled at the School of Fine Arts, where his teachers were Pablo Milá, Claudio Lorenzale and Luis Rigalt. At the same time he attended Lorenzale's public school, which determined his inclination towards Romantic painting at this early stage. In 1858 he settled in Rome thanks to a scholarship, and attended the Accademia Chigi. While there, the Diputació de Barcelona invited him to travel to Morocco to paint the warlike encounters that were taking place in the area, which was to be a turning point in his career. The light of Morocco and the exoticism of the place and its people led him to take an interest in aspects totally unknown in his previous production. In 1860 he visited Madrid, where he visited the Prado Museum and became interested in the work of Velázquez and Goya. Shortly afterwards he began a trip around Europe and finally returned to Rome for good. He attended classes at the French Academy of Fine Arts at the Villa Medici, and in 1861 he visited Florence and came into contact with the "macchiaioli". From then on he returned to Morocco and Paris, as well as travelling to Toledo, where he discovered the work of 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 his international fame was consolidated thanks to his exhibition at the Paris gallery of Goupil. During these years he moved to Granada, to the Fonda de los Siete Suelos in the Alhambra, with the idea of tackling new themes with the greater freedom afforded by commercial and critical success. 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.