Recuerdos de un viage por España. - Jovencita en la iglesia

Original wood engraving heightened with watercolor and gum arabic highlights of the period. Plate engraved by Pannemaker.
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 "tableaux de costumbres" ("Cuadro de costumbres"), veritable galleries of generic characters in the manner of "Les Français peints par eux-mêmes" of the same period.
Superb watercolor whose gum arabic varnish accentuates the contrasts.