Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba at the Battle of Cerignola

This canvas is one of the fundamental works of Spanish Romantic painting. It is also considered the first important painting of this genre throughout the prolific career of Federico de Madrazo, who would later dedicate himself almost exclusively to portraits. It is Poussinesque in size (one-third of life-size), following the academic trend at that time. The canvas depicts an episode of the Second Italian War, in which the Spanish army clashed with the French. Louis d’Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, Count of Guisa and Viceroy of Naples on behalf of King Louis XII, was shot with an arquebus and fell down dead on 28 April 1503. He commanded the French troops in the small Italian village of Cerignola against the Spanish army, under the rule of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453–1515). This was one of the most acclaimed victories by the troops sent to Italy by the Catholic Kings of Spain to recapture the Kingdom of Naples, which the French had taken from the Spanish Crown. In the aftermath of the battle, at dawn, the Great Captain and his officers were traversing the battlefield, scattered with nearly 3,000 corpses and wounded soldiers, amongst whom he stumbled upon the young nobleman’s body. The Spanish general, filled with grief and sorrow, ordered the corpse of the Duke of Nemours to be transferred to the Church of Saint Francesco of Barletta, where he was entombed with all the honours of his rank. In the left half of the scene, the entourage of lancers and armed officers accompanying the Great Captain can be seen, and amongst them, a grey-bearded nobleman wearing a gilded collar stands out: Prince Marco Antonio Colonna. In the foreground are an armoured horseman and Fernández de Córdoba’s page, who turn their backs to the viewer and close the composition on this side. Behind the hindquarters of the horse are the faces of two other lancers, certainly portraits from life as well.

Federico de Madrazo could not resist taking Velázquez’s The Surrender of Breda as a model for this ambitious history painting, as was done with other great works of this genre over the course of the century. The Surrender of Breda not only inspired his disposition towards the scene, but also his interpretation of the historical event: like Velázquez in his painting, Madrazo chose to highlight the nobility of Spanish nature that chivalrously pities the defeated foe. Formally speaking, Madrazo took Velázquez’s canvas as a resource for several painterly devices: the position of the hindquarters of the horse on the far left in order to provide depth to the composition, the group of soldiers’ heads and the upright spears over the leaden sky, as well as a small detail in portraying himself on the far right of the composition, just above his signature – in the exact same spot as what has been considered Velázquez’s self-portrait in The Surrender of Breda, at the same height as the area intended for the signature. Furthermore, there might be a reference to El Greco’s Burial of the Count of Orgaz in the group holding the dead body of the Duke of Nemours.

This canvas signals a big leap forward in young Federico’s career regarding the work that immediately preceded this composition: The Illness of Ferdinand VII, signed in 1833. He demonstrates an absolute assimilation of the aesthetic language of European romantic academicism, perceptible not only in the depiction of the figures, but also, fundamentally, in the distribution of the dawn light – bizarre and exquisite, yet deftly employed in chiaroscuro – used to distinguish each group of characters in order to determine the space in which they appear, albeit compressed. The painter makes use of the panoramic vision of the desolate battlefield as a mere backdrop, as the painters of the Hall of Realms would do in their battle paintings. Nonetheless, he made quite a few skilful choices in this work, enhanced by the sheer details and finesse of the technique with which the figures are executed. These include the splendid Arab steed mounted by the Great Captain, taken from life – the artist even paints the froth at its mouth falling to the saddle strap –, the page dressed in velvet doublet holding the helmet, or the portraits of the characters on the right side; some of them, like Manuel Bohorques, exude great liveliness and expressive intensity.

Work on this canvas began in July 1834, considering the detailed record of its laborious execution in the artist’s detailed diary-journal from that year. After the yearly exhibition of the Academia de San Fernando in 1835, where Madrazo caused a great stir among Madrid’s artistic circles, he exhibited the canvas in the 1838 Paris Salon. As far as his letters reveal, it seems that he was somewhat ashamed to exhibit his own work in the French capital city, as he felt self-conscious when comparing himself to those peers whom he had tried to imitate. Notwithstanding and to Madrazo’s surprise, the jury of the Salon bestowed upon him a third-class gold medal for his work.

Diez, J.L; Barón, J., El siglo XIX en el Prado, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2007, p.163-167/ lám.22