EUROPEAN ROMANTICISM
DEHODENCQ, Alfred (Paris, 1822 – Paris, 1882)
A Gypsy Dance in the Gardens of the Alcázar in front of the Pavilion of Charles V
1851
Oil sobre canvas, 111.5 x 161.5 cm
Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza
A festive counterpoint to its pair which depicts A Confraternity in Procession along the Calle Génova, Seville, this work represents lively scene of gypsies dancing flamenco before one of the Arab pavilions of the Reales Alcázares in Seville, known as the Pavilion of Charles V, surrounded by orange trees. Watched by other gypsies arranged in a circle, a gypsy woman dances to the sound of the singing, the music, and the hand-clapping of her companions who spur her on while they follow her sensual beckoning movements.
These two fascinating paintings surely are undoubtedly Dehodencq’s most important works executed in Spain while he was working for the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier. They are also particularly good examples of the vision of picturesque Spain and its folk customs common to the French artists who visited Andalusia during the first half of the 19th century.
In this case, this depiction of popular life is linked to a discourse in which the festive joy of the colourful, joyful dance is contrasted with the meditative and imposing fervour of the religious procession, whose drama is reinforced by the predominantly dark colours which contrast with the bright lively palette of the present canvas. These extremes were, in the eyes of a foreigner, obvious reflections of the most exotic, profound, and ancient aspects of the typical “Spanish character”.
These two paintings, however, also display quite clearly some of the more personal traits of Dehodencq’s style which differs from that of the majority of the Romantic Andalusian painters in emphasis it gives to the monumental human figures. This tends to diminish the naturalness and the freshness of their movements and also means that they sit rather awkwardly within the setting, which is relegated to a secondary role. However, Dehodencq’s emphasis on his human characters reveals his acute powers of observation in the characterisation of the different human types, as this picture clearly shows. We can clearly distinguish the figures who are gypsies, and it is also easy to spot the artist’s repeated use of a female prototype with oval face, aquiline nose, and large eyes found in his genre paintings.
These two paintings also reveal a contrast between, on the one hand, the technique Dehodencq employed in the representation of the figures—a rigorously outlined drawing that carefully reproduces even the smallest details of their adornments and clothes by means of strongly marked contrasts of light—and, on the other hand, the backgrounds, which are executed with a broader and more fluid brushwork.
There is a pencil drawing of Two Gypsy Dancers which may be a preparatory sketch for this composition.
José Luis Díez
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