Mariano Fortuny Never Exhibited

"Antiquaries" by Mariano Fortuny

"It is known that Fortuny never exhibited. The true reason which kept him from exhibiting was his natural modesty, increased by the dread of notoriety. Theophile Gautier, poet, writer, and art and literary critic, explained: 'If exhibited at the Salon, as we hoped they would have been, his paintings and watercolors would have made for him in the course of a few days a popular reputation, but the young painter, very wrongly we think, did not wish to venture into this great crowd of paintings, not from pride but from true modesty, and the nervous sensitiveness of an artist that would be embarrassed with the thought that during the whole period of the exhibition he, through his works, would be liable to the contradictory judgments of the crowd.'

Fortuny has had the happiness, so rare today, of freely blooming in a mysterious half light, distant from circles where criticism flourishes. No advice, however good, affected his first inspiration. He painted what pleased him, and not having behind an eye armed as with a magnifying glass or spectacles, which curiously watches the growing work and finds fault with it, even before it is finished.

The thought of making a sensation at the exhibition, the torment of young painters, never occupied his mind, and he never troubled himself to learn what was the style of the day, or what kind of subject was in fashion. In fact, it was many others who copied Fortuny's style."

To be continued

(Excerpted from "Life of Fortuny with His Works and Correspondence" by Charles Davillier, 1885.)