PAIR OF LANDSCAPES, XALAPA, MEXICO. SPANISH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1840.

Landscapes, Xalapa, Mexico. Pair of oil paintings on canvas. Spanish school, around 1840. Provenance: Conde de la Cortina collection, Jalapa, Mexico. Pair of landscapes framed within the Spanish school of the first half of the 19th century, with clear romantic affiliation. Both demonstrate knowledge of the Dutch classicist landscape, one of the main influences on the Spanish romantic landscape. Thus, we see “V” compositions, closed on the sides and open in the center, very low horizons that allow a wide development of the sky, spaces built in depth based on successive planes subtly differentiated by light and color, and small figures perfectly integrated into the natural setting. Furthermore, the skies are scenic and effective, with low clouds behind which the golden light characteristic of the classicist landscape filters. One of the most radical aspects of romantic painting was the attempt to replace large canvases of historical or religious themes with landscapes. They intended that the pure landscape, almost without figures or completely lacking them, would achieve the heroic significance of history painting. They were based on the idea that human sentiment and nature should be complementary, one reflected in the other. That is, the landscape had to arouse emotion and transmit ideas. Thus, landscapers like the author of these canvases tried to express their feelings through the landscape, instead of imitating it. The romantic landscape had two main aspects: the dramatic one, with turbulent and fantastic views, and the naturalistic one, which emphasized images of a peaceful and serene nature. This second conception is what we see reflected in these works; The painter tries to communicate a religious reverence for the landscape, nature in its plenitude. In fact, the author's own use of light here conveys a hazy, murky, dream-like atmosphere that invites the viewer to meditate and contemplate themselves in the landscape. The romantic landscape is, however, made up of manifestations of very different types and not comparable to each other; It does not affect all national schools equally, remaining more faithful to tradition in schools such as French or Dutch. Thus, in this canvas we do not find the grandiose British and German scenery, the steep mountains or the monumental Gothic ruins. On the contrary, it is a flat landscape, very horizontal despite the vertical elements that close the sides in the foreground, endowed with a soft dynamism determined by the hills and the moving clouds. The most typical elements of the romantic landscape do not appear, such as the hostile climate or the Gothic ruin, although the clear separation between the foreground and the background does, which enhances the scenographic character derived from the effective lighting. Likewise, the typical very marked romantic perspective is used, in the abyss, which is complemented by a slight confusion of points of view. Thus, the bombastic perspectives of the 18th century veduta are applied here to a sober landscape, which qualifies the scenographic construction of the landscape, so typically romantic. Despite these local differences, this romanticism contained in the form, we nevertheless find a clearly poetic content, which goes beyond the simple representation of nature to capture nature as a reflection of the author's feeling, melancholic and dark, enormously lonely. .

· Size: 66 x 80 cm; 74 x 87,5 cm (marco).