The Woodcutter
1866.Not on display
This work, its companion, The Spinner (P4238), and The Dance (P4234) constituted the paintings that Valeriano Bécquer sent to Madrid as proof of his work during the second year of the pension he had received from the government of Queen Elizabeth II of Spain. A full-length portrait, it depicts a sturdy woodcutter with a young, bearded face, a dour expression, a somber gaze and long hair. He stands with one forearm on a group of boulders and the other hand on the handle of his ax, the head of which rests on a recently cut trunk. His coarse, wide-sleeved, hooded tunic has various patches and is tied at the waist with a cord and his feet are shod with peasant sandals.
Among the works from this group, this panel, with its clear formal beauty, may be the finest example of Valeriano Becquer’s best style. His respectful approach to the personage is reflected in a sincere and immediate realism appreciable in both the figure’s own poise and in the loose and vibrant technique with which the painting is resolved. Rich in paint, it nonetheless retains the necessary descriptive precision required by this commission.
An intense lighting directed towards the shady wooded background draws the eye to the woodcutter, whose solemn and serene pose immediately recalls the harmonious elegance of classical statuary. The artist imbues this peasant’s rather harsh humility with a noble dignity and a severe, contained monumentality that are the painting’s most attractive elements, eschewing any superfluous adornment and thus reinforcing the personage’s virile sobriety (Text drawn from Díez, J. L.: El siglo XIX en el Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2007, pp. 192-194).
