José Gallegos Cádiz 1859-Rome 1917

Fritz Mueller, Miami Beach
Purchased from the above by the present owner in 1969

Like Luis Alvarez Catalá (see lot 170), Gallegos Arnosa studied at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid under Federico de Madrazo before moving to Rome, where he established his reputation as a painter of ecclesiastical genre most often set in church interiors.

In El Zapatero Gallegos applies his customary virtuosity and eye for detail to an altogether more secular and light-hearted subject, a family's visit to a cobbler's shop. The whole narrative is told with a refreshing tongue-in-cheek humour. A girl of good family has tried on numerous pairs of shoes, none quite to her liking or quite the right size. Behind him, the cobbler's assistant is quick to check the shelves for other possible fits. Looking on with increasing boredom are the girl's guardians, presumably her parents, while on the left, a female Saint presides from a poster print as the girl's guiding light.

Underlying the amusing story, however, is a painting of the finest quality and attention to detail. On even a modest-sized panel Gallegos has made a myriad of observations, whether the shoe moulds on the floor, the finely patterned glazed tiles on the wall, the dozens of pairs of individually observed shoes and boots hanging in the ornately carved shelves, the rich satin textures of the girl's dress, or the rucked up Persian carpet upon which she stands. The light too, is masterfully handled, as for example in the upper left background where daylight from the only partly visible window illuminates one of the shelves. 

While Gallegos admired and was influenced by Mariano Fortuny (see lot 152), the founding father of the Spanish School in Rome, he took the latter's eye for detail to new heights, painting pictures that thrilled through their sharpness and finesse.