56 - MARIANO FORTUNY MARSAL

MARIANO FORTUNY MARSAL Reus, Tarragona 1838 - Rome 1874 Isabel de Madrazo (study for The Vicarage). Rome, c. 1869 Male bust (reverse) Pencil and watercolor on paper Signed and titled Dimensions 360 x 306 mm Study from the Amatller Institute of Hispanic Art of Barcelona (no. 27849) is included. Provenance: - Collection of Attilio Simonetti, Rome, c. 1925. - Heirs of Attilio Simonetti, Rome, c. 2009. - Private collection, Barcelona. Interesting preparatory studies by Mariano Fortuny for The Vicarage, one of the masterpieces of 19th-century Spanish painting. Both works depict Isabel de Madrazo, daughter of the painter Federico de Madrazo, who served as the model for the bride in the final composition. The first study, identified by the inscription "Isabella de Madrazo," presents the figure in an extremely simplified manner, rendered with quick washes of watercolor that barely suggest the face, hairstyle, and clothing. On the reverse, Fortuny also made a sketch of a male bust dressed in the style of the 17th century. The second study shows the model full-length and reveals a more advanced stage of the creative process. Fortuny begins to refine the posture, gesture, and arrangement of the dress, elements that would evolve until reaching their final form in The Vicarage. The records of the Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic include the testimony of Charles Davillier, who noted that Cecilia and Isabel de Madrazo posed for different figures in The Vicarage. Apel·les Mestres later clarified that Isabel served as the model for the bride, while Cecilia served as the model for the red-haired woman in profile at the back of the central group. The extraordinary technical freedom of these studies, executed with Fortuny's characteristic economy of means, allows us to follow exceptionally the process of transformation of the real model into one of the key figures in The Vicarage.