Antiquaries

Antiquaries, 1863, canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — this genre scene depicting collectors or scholars examining ancient objects joins a significant nineteenth-century European tradition of paintings about collecting itself. Fortuny's version draws on his deep knowledge of Islamic and Spanish art and material culture: the objects being examined might include Roman bronzes, Moorish ceramics, or Hispano-Moresque textiles — the kinds of objects that circulated among the European antiquarian market Fortuny himself participated in. By 1863 he had established himself in Rome and begun producing the historical genre scenes that would make his reputation, and the Antiquaries subject allowed him to display his range — figures, still-life objects, and interior architecture — within a single composition. The Boston canvas joins the Tomb in North Africa in the Museum of Fine Arts as evidence of his early development.

Canvas with Fortuny's developing technique: looser than his mature panel work but already demonstrating the eye for material specificity that would define his career. Different types of antiquities — metal, ceramic, textile — require distinct surface treatments within the same composition, providing a tour de force of material rendering.