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LUIS DE MADRAZO Y KUNTZ (Madrid, 1825 - 1897). "Portrait of a Lady with a Cat. Oil on canvas. Re-coloured. With restorations. Provenance: Private Collection of Luis García Berlanga. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 81 x 54 cm; 100 x 72 cm (frame). Like the rest of his family, Luis de Madrazo cultivated the portrait. The quality of the master responsible for the painting is clear: first, for the economy of means, which keeps the spectator's attention focused on the lady (something to which the neutral background of the painting and the tonal play between the dress and the pale skin of the lady also contribute); second, for the quality of the drawing used, above all, in the face (drawing which predominates over the colour and the brushstroke, as it was usual in the art of the 19th century derived from the Neoclassicism of the Fine Arts Academies). The son of José de Madrazo and brother of Federico and Pedro, Luis de Madrazo enjoyed great prestige during his lifetime, first as a teacher (professor of Old and Ropajes Drawing) and later as director of the Madrid School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving, and was recognised with honours such as the appointment of Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, as well as a full member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He was a cultivator of religious and historical themes, although he was particularly praised as a portraitist. He began his training with his father and later furthered it at the San Fernando School in Madrid. As early as 1845 he was already working as an illustrator for "El Semanario Pintoresco". Later he also worked as a draughtsman for the "Semanario Pintoresco Español". In 1848 he went to Rome to further his artistic studies at the National Academy of St. Luke and the French Academy of the Villa Medici. In Rome he came into contact with Friedrich Overbeck through Antonio Solá. He received a powerful Nazarene influence from the German Romantic painter, which can be seen in his work from then on. Later he travelled to Paris, Venice, Munich and Berlin before returning to Italy in the 1890s, settling in Pompeii with the painters Bernardino Montañés and Francisco Sáinz. He finally returned to Spain to begin his teaching career in San Fernando and was introduced into the artistic circles of Madrid by his father and brother Federico. He worked with the latter at the Prado Museum. As a painter, Luis de Madrazo devoted himself almost exclusively to portraiture, working for official bodies and also for the nobility. He made his work, characterised by the purity of lines and the sharpness of colour and light typical of the strictest Nazarene aesthetic, known through various competitions and official exhibitions held both in Spain and abroad. In 1855 he was a major success at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, and the following year he won the first medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition in Madrid for his work "Pelayo en Covadonga" ("Pelayo in Covadonga"). He was also awarded a silver medal at the Franco-Spanish Exhibition of 1864. Luis de Madrazo is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in the same city and other important public and private collections.