The family of Jorge Flaquer

This family in a living room is formed by the mother (Elisa), the grandparents (Josefa Ceriola and Jorge Flaquer), and uncle and aunt (Sofía, playing the piano, and Mariano, standing up) of Benigno de la Vega Inclán y Flaquer, 2nd marquis de la Vega Inclán and founder of the Museo Romántico. / The painting opens up a privileged window into the privacy of a home belonging to the wealthy bourgeoisie of the Isabelline period, revealing important changes on the concept of the family that develop most obviously in Spain in the 19th century. Aspects such as sentimentalism, the world of feelings and the roles played by the different members of the family are clearly represented in this painting by Joaquín Espalter, who received the major influence of the Parisian workshop of Gros as well as of the Nazarene Brotherhood in his Italian sojourn. Such important influences inevitably link Espalter to the prevalence of the drawing and also to an idea of the family portrait different to the one that had been developing traditionally in Spain.