MARIÀ FORTUNY (Reus, Tarragona, 1838-Rome, 1874)"Allegory of Christianity".Oil on cardboard.Signed

MARIÀ FORTUNY (Reus, Tarragona, 1838-Rome, 1874)
"Allegory of Christianity".
Oil on cardboard.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Sketch for a painting representing the vision of the Coliseum.
Reproduced in "Mariano Fortuny Marsal" Volume II (Carlos González and Montserrat Martí). Colección Maestros del Arte de los siglos XIX y XX pg.: 22. Editorial Diccionari Ràfols. Barcelona, 1989.
Size: 16,5 x 24 cm; 37,5 x 44,5 cm (frame).
Mariano Fortuny probably painted this oil painting (sketch for a painting set in the Coliseum) in his last period, when he was living in Rome, a city in which he lived intermittently throughout his career. That this is a work of the artist's maturity is evident from the supreme freedom of line and the ingenuity of the composition. The anecdotalism of oriental subjects that he worked on so much in earlier periods has been suppressed in favour of an expressionism "avant la lettre", anticipating to some extent avant-garde solutions. Here, the very free spirit which animates the dramatic play of light, the dissolution of forms in favour of the pure impulse of the gesture, is subordinated to the religious theme. Forming a sort of ascending swirl, the glowing angels and saints on the right are counterpointed by the dark spirits on the left. Both allude to the theme of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. The allegory seems to speak to us, beyond the biblical theme, of the light and shadow of good and evil, of their eternal struggle. As the scene is set in the Coliseum, it could represent the triumph of Christianity over paganism. Fortuny displayed a profound knowledge of Baroque painting, which he reinterpreted with complete freedom: the ascension theme, the rupture of glory... are Baroque elements reread in a modern key.
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 entered 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.