Head of a Gentleman

This is a typical sample of a nineteenth-century painting intended for exhibition in a museum. The example of the great names of the seventeenth century gave rise to a pictorial trend that was sometimes aimed at reflecting the techniques and even the themes of those artists, while at the same time attempting to acquire part of their already historic prestige.

The brilliance of the outfits of the musketeers, with their white ruffs, were fashionable subjects at that time as a result of the novels by Alexandre Dumas père, and in France – the place where they proliferated and from where they spread – they led to the rekindling of an age (of Louis XIII and Louis XIV) of political and cultural grandeur for that country. Furthermore, they were suitable subjects for displaying the virtuosity of the painters. In Spanish art, the Catalan Román Ribera, who had settled in Paris, was also of note. Through Goupil, the most powerful art dealer of the time, he sold his oils successfully in Europe and America, as did Francisco Domingo, whose easy execution and perfect technique enabled him to remain comfortably in the commercial circuits which provided him with financial security.