John Bagnold Burgess (London, 1829 –1897). "Bulls in the maestranza". Oil on canvas. preserve vintage frame Signed and dated in the middle right zone.

Lot description

JOHN BAGNOLD BURGESS (London, 1829-1897). "The Fucking at the Mestretranza". Oil on canvas. Preserves period frame. Signed and dated in the middle right area. Measurements: 73 x 93 cm; 95 x 115 cm (frame). During the 19th century, Spain and England maintained a special relationship. The valuable support given by Great Britain to the patriotic fervour against the French invader led the Spanish to look sympathetically at the British. For their part, British painters and writers descended upon Spain, which offered them the quintessence of romantic idealism. Perhaps seeking a more authentic, natural landscape, they travelled to the peninsula, where the Industrial Revolution had not yet degraded the face of the landscape. Progress in communications made Spain an exotic yet nearby destination for the young English painters who rejected the industrial bourgeoisie and the poverty of spirit that was engulfing the ever-growing big cities. In fact, after the War of Independence, our country began to acquire an aura of exoticism and extravagance that attracted a good number of English intellectuals and artists. Moorish Andalusia, the bandit, the obscurantist Church, the handsome bullfighter and the maja, the lady in a mantilla, the barefoot children, the beggar in rags, Cervantes' gypsy girl... Paintings such as the one we present here bring us closer to the essence of Romanticism, to the exaltation of the soul as a response to an era that placed the cloth on the altar of Reason. John Bagnold was an English artist known for his paintings of historical and genre scenes, mainly in Spain. Burgess was born in Chelsea, London, and was the son of Henry William Burgess, landscape painter to William IV, as well as being part of a family of several generations of distinguished artists. He was educated at Brompton Grammar School and, after his father's death when he was ten, received artistic training from William Charles Ross, the miniature painter, who had been a friend of his father. In 1848 he went to James Mathews Leigh's art school in Soho. In 1850 he exhibited a painting at the Royal Academy and in 1849 he entered the Academy schools, winning the first class medal for life drawing. Every year from 1852 until his death, Burgess was an annual contributor to the Academy's exhibitions. Burgess began his career painting portraits and genre works, before travelling to Spain in 1858, accompanied by his friend and fellow artist Edwin Long, who was to become his travelling companion on future painting trips to the country. For the next thirty years, Burgess was an annual visitor to Spain, often spending days with Spanish peasants, living their lives. He also went to Morocco at least once. Burgess's first major success was his "Bravo Toro" in 1865. Some of his other important works are "Stolen by Gypsies" (1868), "Kissing Relics in Spain" (1869), "The Barber's Prodigy" (1875) and "The Licensing of Beggars in Spain" (1877). In June 1877, Burgess was elected an associate of the Royal Academy and a full member of the Royal Academy in 1889. From 1850 to 1897, Burgess exhibited seventy-three paintings at the Royal Academy.