The Artist in Italy

The Encuentro Room at the Museum of Romanticism unveils what artistic study trips to Italy were like in the mid-19th century, before the Spanish Academy in Rome had been set up, through the drawings by Federico de Madrazo (1815-1894), Luis de Madrazo (1825-1897) and Vicente Palmaroli (1834-1896), which are part of the museum’s collections. It can be visited from 23 June to 18 October. These drawings reveal what this training period was like for those who sought to study the art of Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance in order to emulate the great masters, such as Michelangelo, Raphael and Giotto. In Italy, these artists came across the local folk figures who were so popular at the time due to their picturesque charm and traditional customs. They became the object of drawings that spread rapidly thanks to collections of prints. Students found models dressed in traditional attire at the different drawing academies that were starting to spring up throughout the city, and they could also sketch the peasant women who came to Rome to sell their products and to pose, especially around the Piazza di Spagna.