Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (June 11, 1838 – November 21, 1874) was a Spanish painter known for works focusing on Romantic fascination with Orientalist themes, historicist

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

and military painting of Spanish imperial expansion.

Biography

He was born in

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The area has long been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental significance during the time of the Phylloxera plague. Currently it is known f ...

, near

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. His father died when he was an infant, and his mother by the time he was 12. Thus, Mariano was raised by his grandfather, a cabinet-maker who taught him to make wax figurines. At the age of 9, at a public competition in his town, a local painter, teacher and patron, Domènec Soberano, encouraged further study. At the age of 14 he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

with his grandfather. The sculptor Domènec Talarn secured him a pension allowing him to attend the ''Escola Provincial de Belles Arts'' (the '' Escola de la Llotja''). There he studied for four years under Claudi Lorenzale and Pau Milà i Fontanals, and in March 1857 he gained a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

that entitled him to two years of studies in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

starting in 1858. There he studied drawing and grand manner styles, together with Josep Armet i Portanell and Ricardo de Madrazo, at the Academia Gigi. In 1859, he was called by the Government of the Province of Barcelona (Diputació de Barcelona) to depict the campaigns of the Spanish-Moroccan War. He went to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

from February to April of that year, making sketches of landscapes and battles, which he showed in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

when he returned. These would later serve him as preliminary sketches for his monumental piece, ''The Battle of Tetuan'' (''La batalla de Tetuan'', 1862–64, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya). In 1870, the artist and his family moved to Granada. Originally, this was to be a stage in an extended tourist trip that had taken the group to different localities in

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. However, after arriving in Granada, Fortuny felt compelled to settle down there and work. They arrived in the Summer of 1870 and remained until the autumn of 1872 – a stay of some two and half years. According to several of his biographers, Fortuny established an atelier, known as Estudio de los Mártires, in Granada. The exact location of this studio has remained a mystery. However, recent scholarship has revealed that the location was a house known as Casa de Buena Vista, situated in the neighborhood of the Realejo, at the modern entrance of the Matamoros alley, between the current esplanade of the Alhambra Palace hotel and the Cross of the Martyrs. Since the days of Velázquez, there had been a tradition in Spain (and throughout Europe) of memorializing battles and victories in paint. On the basis of his experiences, Fortuny was commissioned by the Council of the Province of Barcelona (Diputació de Barcelona) to paint a large canvas diorama of the capture of the camps of Muley-el-Abbas and Muley-el-Hamed by the Spanish army. He began his composition of ''The battle of Tetuan'' on a canvas 15 metres long; but, though he worked on it off and on during the next decade, it was never finished. The greater influence of this travel on Fortuny was his subsequent fascination with the exotic themes of the world of

, painting both individuals and imagined court scenes. He visited Paris in 1868 and shortly afterwards married Cecilia de Madrazo, the daughter of

Federico de Madrazo Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (9 February 181510 June 1894) was a Spanish painter. Biography Born in Rome, he was the son of José de Madrazo y Agudo, the painter and former Director of the Prado Museum, and Isabel Kuntz Valentini. Federico's gra ...

, who would become curator of the Prado Museum in

. Cecelia was a sister of Fortuny's friend, the Orientalist artist, Ricardo de Madrazo, who had previously accompanied Fortuny on travels through Europe. Fortuny and Cecelia had a son, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, who became a well-known fashion and tapestry designer. Another visit to Paris in 1870 was followed by a two years' stay at

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, but then he returned to Rome, where he died somewhat suddenly on November 21, 1874, from an attack of tertian ague, or

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, contracted while painting in the open air at

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and Portici in the summer of 1874. After Fortuny's death, his brother-in-law, Ricardo de Madrazo, took care of his studio; cataloguing his works and arranging for an auction at the Hôtel Drouot."Ricardo de Madrazo," (Brief biography)
MuseodelPrado.es. Accessed 4 August 2022.

Legacy

Fortuny paintings are colorful, with a vivacious iridescent brushstroke that at times recalls the softness of

Rococo painting Rococo painting represents the expression in painting of an aesthetic movement that flourished in Europe between the early and late 18th century, migrating to Americas, America and surviving in some regions until the mid-19th century. The paintin ...

but also anticipates impressionist brushwork. Fortuny often painted scenes where contemporary life had still not shaken off the epaulets and decorations of ancient traditions such as the ''Burial of a matador'' and couples signing marriage contracts (La Vicaria). Each has the dazzle of bric-a-brac ornamentation,Huneker, J
''Promenades of an Impressionist''
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; pg. 128 but as in his painting of the ''Judgement of the Model'', that painterly decorative air of Rococo and Romanticism was fading into academicism and left to confront the naked reality of the represented object. He inherited

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

's eye for the paradox of ceremony and reality.

Gallery

Paintings

File:MARIANO FORTUNY - La Odalisca (Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, 1861. Óleo sobre cartón, 56.9 x 81 cm).jpg, '' The Odalisque'', 1861 File:Mariano Fortuny Odalisca.jpg, ''Odalisque'', 1862 File:Fortuny El col·leccionista d'estampes I.jpg, ''The Print Collector'', 1863 File:0248-0141 die libelle.jpg, ''The dragonfly,'' 1866 ( Museu de Belles Arts de València). File:Marià Fortuny i Marsal Bullfight.jpg, ''Bullfight. Wounded Picador'', c. 1867 File:Marià Fortuny - The Spanish Wedding - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Spanish Wedding'',

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...

, 1870 File:El venedor de tapissos.jpg, '' The Tapestry Seller'', 1870 File:Marià Fortuny - Moroccan Horseshoer - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Moroccan Horseshoer'', c. 1870 File:Marià Fortuny - The Slaying of the Abencerrajes - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Slaying of the Abencerrages'', c. 1870

Works on paper

File:Fortuny, Nu de jove amb llança (315 D).jpg, ''Nude Young Man with Spear'', pencil on paper, 1860 File:Marià Fortuny - Night Watch - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Night Watch'', etching and aquatint, c. 1863–1865 File:Marià Fortuny - Idyll - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Idyll'', etching, 1865 File:Marià Fortuny - African Beach - Google Art Project.jpg, ''African Beach'', watercolor, c. 1867 File:Paisatge de Portici, de Marià Fortuny.jpg, ''Paisatge de Portici'', watercolor and gouache, 1874

Bibliography

Entry for Mariano Fortuny y Marsal in Gran Encicplopèdia Catalana
(in Catalan). *Charles Davillier, ' (Paris, 1875). *Charles Yriarte, ''Fortuny'' (Artistes célèbres series) (Paris, 1889).

References

External links

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortuny, Mariano 1838 births 1874 deaths People from Reus Painters from Catalonia 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Deaths from malaria Spanish Orientalist painters