Biography

Spanish (Catalan) painter and etcher. (His name in Catalan is Marià Fortuny i Marsal.) He is one of the notable artists of the Spanish school of the 19th century. He was not only an accomplished painter, but also a very good engraver and designer.

His work drew both on earlier Spanish art, especially the paintings and etchings of Goya, and on contemporary foreign works, notably the paintings of the Italian Macchiaioli and those of the French artist Ernest Meissonier. Following a stay in Morocco in 1860, his topics evolve towards Orientalist subjects.