wave that was growing in Rome, the capital of European art from 1870 onwards. Rome and Paris are the main cities where Fortuny developes his work, though he also moved to Granada, Seville and Portici (Naples). It is there where he falls ill and dies afterwards in Rome, leaving several disciples behind, such as his son Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871-1949), and painter friends like Martín Rico or Joaquín Agrasot. FORTUNY MARSAL, Mariano, Árabe. h. 1860 - 1865
Since mid-19th century, Mariano Fortuny Marsal (1838-1874) plays a key role in the renewal of the Spanish painting, adding a new professional spirit achieved after his work as an illustrator of the war campaigns in Morocco –where Francisco Lameyer also took part in- and providing a new colourful sense that would definitely break the prevailing academic moulds. Due to his activity in Africa, his work developes a noticeable eastern sense that would perfectly connect with the middleclass tastes of that period, studying in depth the plein air painting style through an exercise of quick and daily practice which exceeded the French tradition of the tableutin painting and the Spanish casacones painting, hence connecting with the new
FORTUNY MARSAL, Mariano, Señora de Agrasot. h. 1874
The Fine Arts Museum of Córdoba owns six masterpieces of Fortuny included in the Museum’s artwork paper collections. As part of the Ángel Avilés collection, two of them arrived in 1923, and the remaining four were donated by Fortuny’s daughter-in-law Henriette Negrín Fortuny in 1954 to fulfill her testamentary will. These ones show the characteristic red stamp that confirms his authorship. Along with them and commemorating his 175th birth anniversary, the Museum is exhibiting the best
drawings and watercolour paintings of contemporary artists, an Homage Album published in Barcelona in 1880 by Sanpere i Miquel and a piece of fabric belonging to the clothes that decorated the Córdoba Pavillion at the Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville (1929). A few years ago it was also decorating some walls of this Museum and the Julio Romero de Torres Museum. Authors list: Mariano Fortuny y Marsal Martín Rico Francisco Lameyer Eduardo Rosales Francisco Pradilla José Villegas Cordero Nicolás Megía Manuel Artal Tomás Martín Rebollo Joaquín Sorolla José Hughet Gabriel Puig-Roda Bernardo Rico Ángel Avilés José Casado del Alisal Manuel García Martínez, el Hispaleto Rafael Romero de Torres Enrique Romero de Torres Julio Romero de Torres Traducción: Raquel Gutiérrez