(Enguera 1866–1944 Montilla)
Audience room in the Escorial, signed, dated J. Garnelo (18)94, oil on canvas, 60 x 110 cm, framed, (Rei)

In this lot, José Garnelo y Alda reveals a glimpse of the audience hall of the Escorial, the former Spanish royal residence. The dimensions of the hall depicted here only offer a hint as to the enormous dimensions of the large Renaissance building. Although the Escorial had no longer been the residence of the Spanish king for some years at the time of the painting’s creation in 1894, the splendour of the furnishings shows that it is still a very important space. The figures in the picture wait in anticipation for the audience.
Garnelo himself was committed to pursuing a naturalistic style and was famous for his genre paintings, portraits and history paintings. He studied in Seville and Madrid until he was appointed to the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Barcelona, where Pablo Picasso was one of his students. In recognition of his extraordinary achievements, Garnelo received numerous awards and became a member of the Real Academia, a sub-director of the Museo del Prado and a Painter to the Crown. After a long and productive life, he died in Montilla in 1944.