The work of Francesc Miralles, with a technique influenced by the work of Marià Fortuny and the “tableautin” trend (small, precious and easily understandable paintings, exotic and anecdotal in nature like the Spanish aesthetic), imposed by the art market and the French dealer Goupil connected with the refined and elegant tastes of the bourgeoisie of the Second Empire and Belle Époque of Paris, where the artist lived for many years. His repertoire is chiefly composed of portraits and female figures depicting genre and costumbrismo themes, models of the sophisticated Parisian woman. And often, as is the case in Manola, depictions of “La Espagnolade”, the ideal of Hispanic culture that reflected the cliché that, in the collective imagination of the time, was part of orientalism and the exotic aesthetic that was so in vogue.

Oil on canvas

92x73 cm

Francesc Miralles, 1848 - 1901