Joaquín Espalter was commissioned to portray the family of the banker Jorge Flaquer, depicted in a room with a portrait of the elderly gentleman Jaime Ceriola, Josefa Ceriola’s father. The sitters are depicted from left to right: Jorge, seated and covered by a dressing gown printed in shades of green and lined in red; his son Mariano, wearing a black tailcoat, resting his left hand on the back of the chair of his sister Sofia, who is shown in a checked dress seated on a grand piano. Elisa, the younger sister, is shown in a slate-grey suit, while Josefa Ceriola, dressed in black with a handkerchief, closes the composition. The family is gathered in an austere cabinet in their house on Calle Carretas in Madrid, known as Casa de Tamanes. The portrait reflects the sobriety of a family of the new bourgeois class who seek to imitate the old nobility by immortalising themselves in lavishly decorated domestic interiors. It should be noted that this work depicts the ancestors of Benigno de la Vega-Inclán y Flaquer, 2nd Marquis of Vega-Inclán, founder of the Museum of Romanticism. In addition, this was the first painting the marquis thought of when he started his project, reflecting the domestic life of the bourgeoisie.
Collection: Images
Project: 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe., 5. Power and powers in the history of Europe: oligarchies, political participation and democracy.
Chronology: XIX
Scope: Secondary education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Oil on canvas (73,5 x 92,5 cm)
Source: Museo del Romanticismo (Madrid)
Language: Spanish
Date: 1842-1845
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Identifier: CE0111
Copyright: Museo del Romanticismo (Madrid)
Abstract: Portrait of Jorge Flaquer's family by Joaquín Espalter y Rull
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