18th-19th Century Spanish

Agustín Esteve y Marqués came from a family with a long tradition in the arts. He began his training under the supervision of his father, himself an artist specialized in altarpieces and then in 1768 he enrolled at the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia.

In 1770 Esteve moved to Madrid to further his education at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts while also entering, at the same time, the studio of Francisco Bayeu (1734-1795) as an apprentice. There he became familiar with the painting of Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779), an influence that would prove critical in his later work, and also that of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), whose paintings he copied at the Royal Palace.

Some years later he met Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), which would have a profound impact on his career: adopting a more naturalist style and looser brushwork. Besides, from that moment onwards, the relationship between the two artists was also professional and provided Esteve with a source of commissions, sometimes to copy portraits by Goya.

Esteve was very successful among the aristocracy, his regular clientele, and started to be one of the most expensive and sought-after portrait painters of the time. He made works for leading members of Madrid society and had a particularly close connection with the Osuna family.

He received his highest recognition in 1800, when he was appointed as court painter and a member of the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts. However, due to the crisis of the beginning of the new century and the arrival of King Fernando VII (1784-1833) to the throne, Esteve’s position in the court slipped. His health began to deteriorate and in 1819 he received official retirement from the king, upon which he returned to Valencia, where he remained until his death.

Notwithstanding the quality of his work and the popularity it enjoyed during his lifetime, Agustín Esteve’s work remains largely unstudied and his best paintings have often been wrongly attributed to Goya. However, in recent years there has been a movement to revaluate his figure and establish a proper inventory of his output, a mission begun in the mid-twentieth century by the historian Martín S. Soria, who listed some of the signature features of his portraits, underlining the use of unconventional poses, a liking for detail and the inclusion of elements in the background to provide a theatrical effect—elements indebted to Mengs—together with his unmistakable faces with dark, piercing and melancholic eyes and enigmatic smile.