Mal de amores
Julio Romero de Torres, 1905
Mal de amores, painted around 1905 by Julio Romero de Torres, shows three women of different ages: a young woman, a little girl and an elderly woman, placed at the entrance to the courtyard of the painter's house. According to the sources consulted, the artist used his wife, his niece and his maid as models, which makes the scene as much an exercise in portraiture and domestic observation as a sentimental subject. The title invites an allegorical reading of heartbreak and passion, supported by the restrained postures of the figures and the intimate atmosphere of the space. The painting belongs to Spanish modernism, a current that in Spain sought an idealised image of Andalusian types through women charged with sensuality and mystery, a feature that runs through much of the Córdoba painter's output. The work stayed in the artist's possession until his death. After the Junta de Andalucía acquired it in 1989 together with the rest of the Romero de Torres Collection, it passed in 1991 to the Museo de Bellas Artes de Córdoba, where it can be seen today.
- Painter
- Julio Romero de Torres
- Date
- 1905
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 200 × 143 cm
- Museum
- Museum of Fine Arts of Córdoba, Córdoba
- Movement
- Art Nouveau
- Genre
- genre art
- Depicts
- old woman, girl, young adult woman
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