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

Collection

Personaje desconocido [Unknown subject]

Image caption
JOSÉ MARCELO CONTRERAS Y MUÑOZ

Personaje desconocido [Unknown subject]

  • 1864
  • Oil on canvas
  • 84 x 67 cm
  • Cat. P_216
  • Acquired in 1988
By:
Javier Portús

This half-length portrait shows a middle-aged man looking directly out of the canvas. He is seated, which affects the position of his right arm and the way in which his hands are linked. This feature plays a major role in the expressiveness of the painting. He has a ring on the third finger of his left hand, is dressed in a shirt, waistcoat and frock coat, and is wearing a bow tie. The yellow and white ribbon on his waistcoat denotes the order of Isabella the Catholic. The cross of the same order is pinned to the left side of his chest, and he is also wearing two more crosses, one of which seems (to judge by the fleur-de-lys) to be that of the order of Charles III. He has a moustache and a thick beard. His hair, parted to reveal a broad forehead, is also thick.

His identity is not known. It has been speculated that this could be a self-portrait, given the candid gaze and the fact that Contreras held the Cross of Isabella the Catholic. Detractors of this theory argue that when this painting was signed Contreras was 36 years old, but the sitter seems older, to judge by the slightly greying hair and the wrinkles on his face, especially around the eyes.

The portrait is dated 1864. At that time Contreras was working in Valencia, where he held the Chair of Colour and Composition. In that year he won a Gold Medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition, to add to the second prize that he had received three years earlier. This was one of the happiest periods in his life and career: his wife was still alive and he was getting the recognition that he deserved. A striking feature of this portrait is how skilfully Contreras conveys a feeling of empathy. It shows him to be a versatile artist who may have stood out mainly as a painter of historical and religious themes but was clearly more than capable of producing fire portraits too. He followed the path laid out decades before by Federico de Madrazo, who had been his teacher in Madrid. Like Madrazo, he uses a composition that seeks to convey an image of the sitter that is both elegant and relaxed. He showed a fondness for precise description, in which small details can be picked out, and of consistency in tone. In this case that means a work based on shades of brown, in which the sitter is set convincingly against the background.

Javier Portús

 
By:
Javier Portús
José Marcelo Contreras y Muñoz
Granada 1827 - Madrid 1890

José Marcelo Contreras y Muñoz was active in the second half of the nineteenth century, when he worked as a painter in many cities around Spain, especially in Andalusia, Madrid and the Eastern seaboard. He specialised in historical scenes, though he also worked in other genres, particularly portraits. He was trained at the Academy of the Noble Arts in his home city of Granada, where he showed such precocious talent that he completed the course and was made honorary deputy director of the academy at the age of just sixteen. In 1847, at the age of twenty, he travelled to Madrid to enrol at the Royal Academy of San Fernando. There, he studied under Federico de Madrazo, who is the main reference point for understanding his work as a portrait artist. From 1854 to 1862 he worked in Andalusia. First he was Director of the Provincial Museum in Cordoba, and later he was appointed to the Chair of Colour and Composition in Cadiz. This marked the start of his work as a teacher, which was to occupy much of his time and mark his subsequent career. Just a year later he moved to take up the same Chair in Valencia. There, he cooperated on the decorating of the palazzo of the Marquis of Dos Aguas, one of the biggest decoration projects in the city at that time. In 1865 he painted Aurora, which hangs in the room known as the Salón Pompeyano. Following the death of his wife that same year, he moved to Madrid, where he lived for the rest of his life.

His name crops up frequently as a participant in national exhibitions and major decoration projects. His liking for historical and allegorical themes and his expertise as a portrait artist contributed to his success in such ventures. In 1861 he won Second Prize in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts for his Murillo’s Fall from the Scaffolding, which combined several of his main areas of interest: a historical scene, ‘costumbrist’ elements and the figure of Murillo. Contreras was actually a devoted copyist of Murillo's work. Three years later he won his second gold medal for The Doubt of St Peter (now held at the Prado in Madrid), a monumental work that shows his knowledge of the aesthetics of the Nazarenes. It is one of the best examples of the other area of historical painting that he cultivated: religious scenes. A few years later he painted Eve of 3 May in Madrid (held at the History Museum of Madrid), one of his best known works. At the same time he worked on major decoration projects. He created theatre curtains and was one of those responsible for painting the mural at the National School of Music. He was also one of the painters who produced works for the church of San Francisco el Grande in Madrid, with his Glorification of the Virgin.

His brother Rafael Contreras was a major figure in Spanish national heritage conservation who conducted studies and restoration work at the Alhambra.

Javier Portús

 
 
Julián Gállego Banco de España. Colección de pintura, «Catálogo de pintura del siglo XIX en Banco de España», Madrid, Banco de España, 1985. Julián Gállego & María José Alonso Colección de pintura del Banco de España, «Pintura de los siglos XIX y XX en la colección del Banco de España», Madrid, Banco de España, 1988. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 1.