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

Landscapes, Xalapa, Mexico. Pair of oil paintings on canvas. Spanish School, ca. 1840. Provenance: Conde de la Cortina collection, Jalapa, Mexico. A pair of landscapes framed within the Spanish school of the first half of the 19th century, with a clear romantic affiliation. Both show the 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 centre, very low horizons that allow a wide development of the sky, spaces built in depth based on successive planes subtly differentiated by light and colour, and small figures perfectly integrated into the natural setting. In addition, 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 with historical or religious themes with landscapes. They wanted pure landscapes, almost without figures or completely lacking them, to achieve the heroic significance of historical painting. They based their work on the idea that human feeling and nature should be complementary, one reflected in the other. That is, the landscape should arouse emotion and transmit ideas. Thus, landscape painters like the author of these paintings tried to express their feelings through the landscape, instead of imitating it. Romantic landscapes had two main aspects: the dramatic, with turbulent and fantastic views, and the naturalistic, 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 fullness. In fact, the artist's own use of light here conveys a foggy, murky, dreamlike atmosphere that invites the viewer to meditate and contemplate himself in the landscape. The romantic landscape is, however, made up of very diverse manifestations that are not comparable to each other; it does not affect all national schools equally, remaining more faithful to tradition in schools such as the French or the Dutch. Thus, in this canvas we do not find the grandiose British and German stage sets, 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 gentle 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 there is a clear separation between the foreground and the background, which enhances the scenographic character derived from the effective lighting. The typical, very marked, abyss-shaped perspective is also used, 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 nuances the scenographic construction of the landscape, so typically romantic. Despite these local differences, in this romanticism contained in the form, we find, however, a clearly poetic content, which goes beyond the simple representation of nature to depict nature as a reflection of the author's feelings, melancholic and dark, extremely solitary.

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