Manuel Cabral

Manuel Cabral Aguado Bejarano (Seville, 1827 - ibídem, 1891) was a Spanish painter and one of the best representatives of the Andalusian costumbrismo within the Spanish Romanticism.

He came from a family of artists. Artwork was interested in his father Antonio and Brother Francisco, also painters. His first teacher was the painter José Domínguez Bécquer, after his death Cabral was educated at his own father. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Seville, where he later became a professor. He was appointed the official painter of Queen Isabella II. His performances of the processions and pilgrimages have been very successful both in Seville and Madrid.

Son of Antonio Cabral Bejarano begins his studies in painting with José Domínguez Becquer and later with his father. He will enter in 1845 as student in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Santa Isabel de Hungary in Seville (School of the Academy of Noble Arts of Santa Isabel of Seville), of which later academic in 1863. He was appointed honorary painter of Queen Elizabeth II . He obtained honorable mentions at the National Fine Arts Exhibitions of 1858, 1864, 1879 1880, celebrated in Cadiz, and in 1856, 1858, 1867 and 1878 in Seville.

His painting has a great chromatic richness, in cold tones and like of the detail, as well as of scenes of multitude like the processions, which can be seen in works like Good Friday in Seville of 1862. The meticulousness in the personages and the architectonic details of Buildings gives great value to the work.

In addition to the genre painting, his most unknown facet is as portraits author. Called by the ducal family of Montpensier, it realizes the portraits of the infantas Maria Cristina and Maria de las Mercedes in 1877.

Also noteworthy are commissions by popular characters of the moment like actors Teodora Lamadrid characterized in the paper of Adriana Lecouvreur and Julian Romea, also dressed in typical costume of scene. Both are in the museum of the Romanticism of Madrid.

His style of painting is framed within Andalusian costumbrismo, one of the different styles of romanticism. Two schools stand out in the costumbrismo: The Madrilenian, with scenes darker and with tragedy dyes. And the Seville, more marked by the vision of foreigners, who like Andalusian traditions and way of life.

In the nineteenth century the vision of romantic travelers who embarked on a journey through Spain living the scenes most costumbristas Andalusian, is reflected in this style of painting. The scenes of popular types, daily life or fairs is a fashion among Europeans who get to know the tipismo and the Andalusian folklore. His works of processions and pilgrimages, achieved great success in both the Andalusian capital and Madrid. He looked for the revelry and the drama, but also it brings typical testimonies, reinforced with the vision of clothes, poses and buildings, within the aesthetics sevillana.

An important sample of her works are found in the museum Carmen Thyssen Málaga as the picture of the genre Playing in the park realized in 1882. With great realism in details like the dresses of the protagonists that shows the fashion of the Sevillian nobility in the last years of the Century or the landscape that gives the scene a more distinguished character. A different theme to other compositions with characters and more popular attire, such as the usual in a sale or the April fair.

Other examples of his extensive work, we can mention the Corpus in Seville, Galanteo, In the Fair of Seville or Fiesta in the cortijo within a long list in which also we find a great number of portraits.
http://hisour.com/artist/manuel-cabral/