David Roberts (1796-1864) and Genaro Pérez Villaamil (1807-1854) were two of the great landscape painters of European Romanticism. Through their views of monuments, cities and landscapes, often animated with traditional scenes, they contributed to forging a romantic image of Spain that can be traced to the present day.
This catalog, which accompanies the exhibition of the same name held at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, offers new perspectives on the dialogue between the work of one and the other in the context of the cultural discovery of Spain, North Africa and the Middle East by traveling artists of the 19th century. Using a comparative approach, eleven specialists led by Claudia Hopkins, curator of the exhibition and director of the volume, address in the six texts and the more than 120 files that make up the trajectories of both painters since their first meeting in Seville in 1833.
Here the influence of Roberts on Villaamil is analyzed in depth for the first time and the notable differences in the vision that each had of Spain are pointed out. For Roberts, it was an exotic and timeless country, while Villaamil, while sharing the Scotsman's fascination with Andalusia, turned his attention further north, dismantling the clichés present in his work and offering the image of a Catholic Spain. that it was opening up to progress and modernity. In the 1850s, both offered a similar response to the changes that progress was operating in their respective countries.
The catalog, which includes unpublished works, is profusely illustrated with drawings, paintings and engravings, but also with manuscripts and ceramic pieces that allow the reader to draw numerous parallels.