Flamenco Dancer. Romantic French pastel portrait of a Spanish beauty by Louis Fortuney. The work is signed bottom left, and presented in a very fine carved gilt rococo wood frame under glass.

Fortuney travelled in southern Spain at the beginning of the 20th century and this portrait probably dates from this period when he was intrigued by the Spanish Flamenco dancers and Gyspsy ladies that he encountered. A master with pastel he has captured the subject in mid dance with her colourful dress and fine tasselled shawl.

Louis Fortuney (1875-1951) was a pastel painter who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Toulouse. He captured and drew as inspiration from daily life, subjects initiated by his contemporaries Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Gervex and Sisley. An anarchist, he refused to exhibit at the Salon. He painted in a vein close to Fauvism and Expressionism. He was a friend of Rodin and painted with him in the south of France, in Cagnes-sur-mer. Fortuney was also inspired by the sea, the Breton lights and those of the Mediterranean. He obtained the commission from the State for important canvases intended to decorate the Ministry of the Navy. He painted many genre scenes depicting women in the streets of Spain and Paris, as well as seascapes. He was an expert in the handling of pastel, which was very fashionable during the Belle Epoque, and excelled in rendering the velvetiness of fabrics and complexions. The Fortuney Foundation now promotes his memory and his work.