1078 - EUGENIO LUCAS VELAZQUEZ (Madrid, 1817-1870) - PAIR OF INKS ON PAPER

EUGENIO LUCAS VELAZQUEZ (Madrid, 1817-1870) - PAIR OF INKS ON PAPER Both framed and signed E. Lucas 1862 - (Madrid, 1817–1870). MEASUREMENTS: 46 X 56 CM (FRAMED) AND 31 X 21 CM EACH PAPER. Spanish painter. Lucas Velázquez is, without a doubt, the Spanish Romantic artist who best understood Goya’s art, establishing himself as the most important and passionate follower of Goya’s world after the death of the brilliant Aragonese master, whose essence he managed to assimilate to such an extent that it sometimes made it difficult to correctly attribute certain little-studied works. Referred to since the 19th century as Eugenio Lucas Padilla or Eugenio Lucas the Elder and as a native of Alcalá de Henares, he was actually born in Madrid on February 9, 1817. He began his artistic training as a student at the San Fernando Academy; however, dissatisfied with the cold classicism of academic teachings, he preferred to study the great geniuses of Spanish painting directly. At the Prado Museum, he frequently copied works by Velázquez and, above all, by Goya, whose work would definitively shape this artist’s style and creative personality. Thus, Lucas found in Goya’s compositions an extraordinary source of inspiration for developing an imaginative style of painting, characterized by unbridled passions, fantastical visions, and scenes of intense drama, in the truest Romantic spirit—primarily in scenes of the Inquisition, covens, witchcraft, pilgrimages, Manolas, and bulls—all themes he learned from Goya, which constitute the most fascinating core of his prolific artistic career. Furthermore, in 1850 he painted the ceiling—now lost—of the Teatro Real in Madrid. PROVENANCE: IMPORTANT CATALAN ESTATE. REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY: Arnáiz, José Manuel, Eugenio Lucas, su vida y su obra, Madrid, M. Montal, 1981.