Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Miserias de la guerra en un paisaje nevado [Hardships of War in a Snowy Landscape]

Image caption
ALEJANDRO FERRANT Y FISCHERMANS

Miserias de la guerra en un paisaje nevado [Hardships of War in a Snowy Landscape]

  • 1891
  • Oil on board
  • 23 x 34 cm
  • Cat. P_274
  • Acquired in 1981
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso, Carlos Martín

This small board has the characteristic sketch-type style that Alejandro Ferrant used even in his large-scale compositions such as those for the altar of the church of San Francisco el Grande in Madrid. It was acquired by the Banco de España in 1981, and showcases his free-flowing brush-strokes and consummate skill in the composition of his themes. The precision and morbid sensuality of the naked corpse are outstanding. It occupies the centre of the composition and is given a great deal of space in spite of the small size of the work. The theme of this beautifully composed scene could originate not from Callot or Goya, as the title might lead one to think, but from Gonzalo de Córdoba after the Battle of Ceriñola, also known as The Two Warlords by José Casado del Alisal (1866, Museo del Prado), in which the so-called 'Great Captain' is shown grieving over the naked corpse of his enemy the Duke of Nemours. A reproduction of this picture was used on the one hundred peseta note issued by the Banco de España in 1931.

The violently foreshortened position of the corpse is also reminiscent of the body that appears in The Miracle of St Mark freeing the Slave by Tintoretto (1548-1566, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice). The scene could have come entirely from the mind of the artist, but given the clothing of the figures it could also represent a historical fantasy linked to the Reconquest, a theme much liked by academic painters. In that case a dramatic contemporary event springs to mind: the war in Africa in 1859-1860, which left a profound imprint on visual memory thanks to the half crude, half epic tone of the pictures of the conflict produced by Mariano Fortuny.

 
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso
Alejandro Ferrant y Fischermans
Madrid 1843 - Madrid 1917

Alejandro Ferrant y Fischermans learned his craft at the School of San Fernando and from Luis Ferrant, his uncle and the painter of historical scenes.  He won his first prizes at a very young age in exhibitions at the Academic of Fine Arts of Cadiz in 1862, 1864 and 1866. He won a third place medal at the National Exhibition of 1864 for a portrait of his uncle the artist, and took second place in the 1867 Exhibition for Taking of a Moorish Galliot by the People of Cadiz, which had been presented at an exhibition in that city the previous year. In 1874 he was awarded a three-year grant for merit by the Academy in Rome. This was subsequently extended for a further year by Madrid City Council. He took part in the 1872 and 1878 International Exhibitions in Paris. At the latter he exhibited Interment of St Sebastián in the Cloaca Maxima, which also went on to win the first-place medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid that same year. In 1892 he again won first prize for his Cisneros, Founder of Illescas Hospital. He was appointed a member of the Academy of San Fernando in 1883 and became Director of the Museum of Modern Art. He produced works of great size, such as Sybils, Prophets and the high altar at the church of San Francisco el Grande in Madrid. He also worked on the decoration of the provincial government building in Pamplona, the courthouse in Barcelona and the palazzo of the Marquis of Linares in Madrid. In 1926 an exhibition in tribute to him was staged at the Spanish Society of Friends of Art . His sons Ángel and Alejandro went on to become skilled artists in their own right, specialising in sculpture and architecture.

 
 
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez & Julián Gállego Banco de España. Colección de pintura, Madrid, Banco de España, 1985. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Julián Gállego & María José Alonso Colección de pintura del Banco de España, Madrid, Banco de España, 1988. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 1.