Genaro Pérez de Villaamil (1807-1954), Attributed to - Aux Catacombes

Oil on canvas. Original canvas. On the back, a hot iron stamp from a Madrid-based Fine Arts supplier located on Calle del Caballero de Gracia.

The scene unfolds in an atmosphere of fantastic archaeology, representative of the nineteenth-century conception of Antiquity in Spain, where medieval and Hispano-Arabic elements merge with late antique features. The architectural space is richly defined by a collection of historicist references: fragments of mosaics and deteriorated mural paintings, Gothic-style pillars, and Mudejar-style arches, the latter inspired by monumental Islamic models.

Under the twilight dawn's penumbra, which casts a dark and dramatic light, the narrative focus is set in a crypt or underground space. There, the main action unfolds: a figure evoking a hermit or anchorite solemnly receives a small family unit. This composition emphasizes the tension between the ruinous grandeur of the past and the spiritual, humble encounter taking place in the present, a recurring theme in historicist romanticism.

Genaro Pérez de Villaamil y d'Huguet was the quintessential romantic painter of landscapes in Spain, whose life was marked by liberal action, exile, and devotion to heritage. His figure is fundamental in the reconstruction and valorization of Spain's medieval and monumental past.

After an initial academic education and a decisive influence from the British painter David Roberts in Seville, Villaamil established himself as the leader of a school of Romantic and historicist painting that used ruins and monuments as its main subjects. His masterpiece, the collection of lithographs in three volumes titled Spain Artistic and Monumental (published in Paris between 1842 and 1850), documented views and descriptions of prominent monuments, many of them of medieval and Arab origin. This pioneering work not only secured the painter's international recognition (it was presented to Louis-Philippe I of France and received honors from Otto I of Greece), but also, by depicting these architectures with a sublime and nostalgic approach, for the first time established the artistic and sentimental value of Spanish historical heritage. Villaamil was also the first professor of landscape at the Real Academia de San Fernando in 1845, thus institutionalizing the genre he elevated to a chronicle of national greatness.

- Image dimensions without frame: 68 x 52 cm / 78 x 62.5 cm with a magnificent antique frame in eclectic style, probably the original.

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