Recuerdos de un viage por España. - Corregidor

Original wood engraving heightened with watercolor and gum arabic of the period, signature in the plate by Clerman at bottom right. Plate engraved by Duverger.
Print created for "Recuerdos de un viage por España" by Francisco de Paula Mellado, an account of his journey through the multiple provinces of Spain and overseas territories in which the author studies the customs, legends, literature, history and geography of each place. This type of illustration is emblematic of Spanish Romantic aesthetics and its fashion for "costume paintings" ("Cuadro de costumbres"), veritable galleries of generic characters in the manner of "Les Français peints par eux-mêmes" at the same period. Superb watercolor whose gum varnish accentuates the contrasts.