Great God Leonardo Alenza 1840 - 1845

Great God
Leonardo Alenza 1840 - 1845
From the collection of
Museo Nacional del Romanticismo
This beautiful composition provide an account of nineteenth century Madrid, in which parishes held processions dedicated to the Holy Sacrament on the third Sunday of every month, when communion was given to the sick and disabled in their homes. For this reason it became known as the “Great God” procession. / The use of colour, the wide, expressive brushstrokes, and the striking subject are characteristic of the Alenza style. The painter, born in Madrid, was a keen observer of the society of his time. This combined with the power of his work makes him one of the most important Spanish romantic painters.
Details
Title: Great God
Date Created: 1840 - 1845
Physical Dimensions: w53 x h40 cm (Without frame)
Painter, engraver and illustrator: Leonardo Alenza
Original title: El Dios Grande
Cultural Context: Spanish Romanticism
Type: Painting
Rights: http://en.museoromanticismo.mcu.es/investigacion/normasReproduccionFondos.html
External Link: CERES http://ceres.mcu.es/pages/Main?idt=7741&inventary=CE0813&table=FMUS&museum=MNR
Medium: Oil on canvas

Museo Nacional del Romanticismo
Madrid, Spain

The Museo del Romanticismo depends on the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of the Spanish Government through the General Direction for Fine Arts, Cultural Properties, Archives and Libraries.

The museum is dedicated to Romanticism, a cultural and political movement that reached its height throughout Europe in the early 19th century, and is housed in an 18th century palace, in the main downtown of the city.

It is a museum house, a reconstruction of how a bourgeois palace could have been during the Spanish Romanticism (1830-1868). The Museum visitor has access to different types and levels of information through two essential routes: and atmospheric tour (with special reference to the decorative aspects and the daily life of this period) and a tour based on thematic criteria showing historical, political and artistic issues.

The origin of the collections is closely linked to its founder, Benigno de la Vega Inclán, 2nd Marquis de la Vega Inclán. In 1921, in anticipation of the future museum, the Spanish Society of Friends of Art organised an exhibition of 86 paintings and pieces of furniture belonging to the Marquis. Thereafter, the initial core of the collection has been enriched with subsequent purchases, donations and deposits that have made the Museum one of the clearest exponents of the re-creation of Romantic atmospheres from the 19th century in Spain. The Museum's collections are characterised by their richness and heterogeneity, containing 15.708 museographic funds, as well as around 3.900 documentary funds belonging to its interesting historical archive. The Museum has a heterogeneous collection, with paintings, miniatures, engravings, drawings, furniture, photographs, sculptures, toys and decorative arts.

Leonardo Alenza
1807 - 1845

Leonardo Alenza y Nieto was a Spanish painter and engraver in the Romantic style; associated with the Costumbrista movement.
http://hisour.com/art-medium/paintings/great-god-leonardo-alenza-1840-1845/