La Batalla de Tetuan

The Battle of Tétouan is a monumental canvas that Mariano Fortuny painted between 1862 and 1864, commissioned by the Barcelona provincial council, which intended to display it in the council chamber of its building. It depicts the 1860 battle in which Spanish forces took the city of Tétouan during the Spanish-Moroccan War. Fortuny accompanied the army to the front, and the sketches he made there formed the basis of the composition, which was apparently never fully finished. For the scene he drew on a large work by Horace Vernet on the capture of Abd-el-Kader's camp, painted around 1843, which the council paid for him to study in Paris. Beyond the military record, the painting hints at the society of its time: most of the soldiers fighting are humble men, while the commanders stand out as prominent figures, a reflection of the inequalities of the period. It is historical realism rather than a work of protest. After the painter's death the canvas came to Spain, and today it is held at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Painter

Mariano Fortuny Marsal

Date

1862

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

300 × 972 cm

Museum

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Share:FacebookWhatsApp