Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer on his Death Bed

This marvellous, synthetic painting signed by Vicente Palmaroli in 1870, of the corpse of the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, is an excellent example of the beautiful deaths of the 19th century. Unlike other Romantic writers like Espronceda or Rivas, Bécquer was only admired by a group of devoted friends and his brother, the artist Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer, a true soul mate who died only three months earlier. The subject of death was always part of Bécquer’s work; almost as a premonition, he had written in his last verses: ‘Oh, how quiet is the love of death! How wonderful is the dream of the quiet tomb!’. / In this painting, we can see the great friendship and love that existed between the painter and the poet, who has been depicted without grandiloquence, almost as though he were asleep, his head resting against the white pillow. The Romantic artists (painters, poets, musicians) made a great spiritual family of visionaries who were aware of their talents, of their existence, of their own particular adventure.