Title
Fight for life, by Torre y Estefanía (1895)
Creator
Torre y Estefanía, Rafael de la (1890-1934)
Date
1895
Description
"The academic culture of the Spanish 19th century introduced the concept of decency in the representation of the female nude. During the Restoration, the images of women who, due to economic necessity, were forced to pose naked for the artists proliferated and these, in return, consciously hid their faces to preserve their dignity. In this work, the model hides her nudity with a dramatic gesture. The despondency is underlined by the presence of an older woman of humble extraction who seems to remind her of her situation of need. The painter assigns to the fabrics that cover the model a prominence comparable to that of her body, which seems to be ironic about the consideration of objects that both the cloths and the nudes had in the artists' academic training." (Translated description from the National Museum of Prado, Madrid, Spain,
https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471, Archived in: https://web.archive.org/web/20190407025105/https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471)
The older woman next to the model could also represent a procuress.
https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471, Archived in: https://web.archive.org/web/20190407025105/https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471)
The older woman next to the model could also represent a procuress.
Source
National Museum of Prado, Madrid, Spain
https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471
Archived in:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190407025105/https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471
Catalogue number: P006634
https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471
Archived in:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190407025105/https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/luchar-por-la-vida/5c8fdc15-e4a5-43f7-9de0-d7d0df7fd471
Catalogue number: P006634
Format
Oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 259,5 × 205 cm
Dimensions: 259,5 × 205 cm
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