Mariano Fortuny, Gone Too Soon

"Hollyhocks" by Mariano Fortuny

"Mariano Fortuny left Portici on the 1st of November, and arrived at Rome on the 6th. The day after he took his pen to give us news of himself. A few days after, the 14th, he felt unwell and soon went to bed.

It was thought his indisposition was but a slight one, and he himself did not suspect the gravity of his case. He made, without leaving his bed, some pen drawings, particularly some after the casts of Beethoven. His illness was, however, very serious. It was the return of an attack of pernicious fever, from the ill effect of which he had already suffered in 1869, and which, was complicated by ulceration of the stomach.

However, the physicians did not yet despair, but unhappily the disease rapidly grew worse, notwithstanding large doses of quinine, and Fortuny died on the 21st of November, 1874, at six o'clock in the evening. The news of the death of the great artist was as a thunderbolt in the city.

He was so beloved that no one could believe in such a loss. It was a general mourning. All contended for the sad honor of bearing the coffin to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, and thence to the cemetery of San Lorenzo Fuori. The Syndic of Rome, the Spanish Ambassador, the Director of the Academy of France, and the Director of the Academy of Naples, were selected for pall bearers.

Many artists, and I speak of those who hold the first rank, share their appreciation, and, doubtless, posterity will confirm the judgment they have given of one of the most extraordinary painters that ever lived."

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