Mariano Fortuny y Carbóa (1838-1874) born in Reus, a province of Taragona in Catalonia, Spain. At the age of fourteen, Fortuny was admitted to the Academy of Barcelona, studying under Claudio Larenzale.
Fortuny’s brief career encompassed both the Romanticism fascination with orientalist themes, but also moved towards a prescient loosening brush-stroke and color. Painter, Henri Regnault best encapsulated the beauty of Fortuny’s work:
“They are prodigious in color and in boldness of painting. Oh, what a painter he is, that chap! I yesterday passed the day with Fortuny, and it broke my arms and legs.’ He is astonishing, that gaillard-la. He has marvels at his place. He is the master of us all. If you could see the two or three pictures which he is finishing just now, and the water-color which he has made these latter days! O Fortuny! You drive me from sleep.”
To learn more about Mariano Fortuny y Carbóa, please visit the following links:
Man, absolutely breathtaking. Wonderful post.
I discovered Fortuny earlier this year while researching figurative painters for my Painting II class. His work is stunning, and I was amazed that I had never heard of him before. I chose to do a master study of his 1871 piece “Viejo desnudo al sol” (Old Naked Sun), which is an amazing painting if you have never seen it.
Great website, by the way!
Thanks Phillip.