Piece of the month October 2012

PORTRAIT OF A BANDIT, BY ANTONIO MUÑOZ
 

Ignacio Miguéliz Valcarlos
UNED. Pamplona

In a private collection in Pamplona there is a brightly coloured watercolour of a portrait of a bandit, signed by A. Muñoz, which once formed part of the art collections of the Dukes of Montpensier, Antonio de Orleáns (1824-1890) and Luisa Fernanda de Borbón (1832-1897). The Montpensiers, who had been living in the palace of San Telmo in Seville since 1848, amassed an important art collection in which Spanish genre paintings were particularly important. This theme was all the rage in the second half of the 19th century, when European Romantic travellers came to Andalusia in search of passions and emotions. Thus, gypsies, Flemings and bandits were not only captured by writers such as Prosper Merimé and Washington Irving, but were also the protagonists of the brushes of numerous painters, as well as of a new art form, photography, which represented them in a real way, immortalising them and showing them to the world.

One of the most recurrent themes was that of the Bandolero, which had its roots in the romantic tales of famous characters such as José María Hinojosa el Tempranillo or Luis Candelas, presented as popular heroes who chivalrously assaulted travellers in the Andalusian mountains, stealing their belongings and, thanks to their chivalry, making the ladies fall in love with them. Their figure soon became a legend, representing the popular Andalusian subject , thanks to which they were depicted on countless occasions. In fact, given their popularity, the wealthy and educated classes adopted the custom of portraying themselves in imitation of these characters, both individually and in the tableau vivant recreations that were so fashionable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
 

Portrait of a bandit, by Antonio Muñoz
 

In the composition presented here, the figure of the bandit is standing in the position of profile, with his head cocked to one side, as if he were attending to a presence outside the composition, in a gallant attitude, as would be expected of a bandit. sample clearly shows his status thanks to the blunderbuss that proudly and defiantly protrudes from the sash around his waist. His figure is outlined by patches of colour, in vibrant, intense colours: blue for the trousers, red for the sash around his waist and the headscarf, orange for the blanket, yellow and blue for the jacket and white for the shirt. The figure is cut out against a neutral background, worked with purples for the shadows and light blue tones that gradually fade until they blend in with the paper. The whole composition conveys the bright, luminous colours of watercolour, arranged in a loose, agile manner, in patches of colour that outline the contours and compose the figure, proud of its condition.

We know nothing about the author of the watercolour, A. Muñoz, as there are several painters of this name surname working in Andalusia at the moment, but none whose name begins with A.

The whole composition repeats models already seen in both painting and photography, and which thanks to the latter were transmitted not only to Andalusia and Spain but also to other parts of Europe, fascinated by the romantic aura of Andalusia. Thus, we see this topic taken up by painters such as Henry Stainer, who, in Gitanos de Granada, depicts the family of the gypsy Fernández, nicknamed Chorrojumo, whose figure is very similar to that of the bandit studied here. Ramón Casas also depicted the bandit topic , but in ochre tones, with less colour. Or the father of Impressionism himself, Edouard Manet, painted the topic of the gypsy or bandit, as we can see in Joven vestido de majo, although he was probably inspired by photographs of the time, as the painter was only in Spain, but only in Madrid, without going to Andalusia.

Meanwhile, in photography, Andalusian popular types, with the inclusion of numerous figures of gypsies, featured in the work of photographers such as Laurent and Napper. The Duke of Montpensier was no stranger to these portraits, as he was in possession of an album with views of Andalusia, Views in Andalusia, produced by Robert P. Napper in 1863 and luxuriously bound, in which, among views of Granada, the Alhambra, Seville and Gibraltar, portraits of popular types, gypsies and country men were included, as well as that of a man dressed in Andalusian style. This richly bound album is now in the Photographic Fund of the University of Navarre, while simpler bound copies exist in the collections of the Duke of Segorbe in Seville and Carlos Sánchez in Granada.

 

bibliography
-REINA PALAZÓN, A., La pintura costumbrista en Sevilla. 1820-1870, Seville, 1979
-LLEO CAÑAL, V., La Sevilla de los Montpensier. Segunda corte de España, Seville, 1997.
-VV.AA., From Paris to Cádiz. Collotype and collodion, Barcelona, 2004.
-VVAA, Nappr i Frith. Un viatge fotogràfic per la Ibèria del segle XIX, Barcelona, 2007.