FLORENTINO DECRAENE

(1795 / 1852)

ATTRIBUTED TO FLORENTINO DECRAENE Tournai, France (1795) / Madrid (1852) "Portrait of Francisco de Asis de Borbon" and "Portrait of the Infante Don Enrique de Borbon"

Pair of gouaches on ivory Adhered to a secondary support. Slight breaks in the ivory. Florentino Decraene trained in Tournai with his father and the painter Piat-Joseph Sauvage (1744-1818). He arrived in Spain in 1825 to be part of the Royal Lithographic Establishment at the request of Jose de Madrazo, who was surprised by his work in the lithographic studio that he had set up in Paris with his brother. In Madrid he alternated the activity of lithographer with that of miniaturist, a trade that he had learned with Sauvage. Decraene revolutionized miniature portraiture at that time in Spain due to the innovation and quality of his miniatures, receiving the title of honorary chamber painter in 1849. His miniatures seek greater individualism of the characters, influenced by the literary atmosphere of the time, and they absorbed the best of Spanish art, moving away from the aesthetics of French miniatures, which until then had been predominant, creating their own style marked by their high quality, as can be seen in this pair of portraits. These works have a valid CITES certificate with numbers ES-MT-51399/23C and ES-MT-51400/23C issued in 2024 Measurements: 11.6 x 9.5 cm and 11 x 9.2 cm