The Princess of Asturias is delighted with his cadet portrait. “He liked it a lot,” a person close to him tells us, and, more importantly, the author of the work confirms it to us, Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. “It was what worried me the most, that the princess of Asturias would really likebut according to what they have told me, she sees herself reflected and is happy with the result.”
And the Kings also think the same. Augusto also confesses them to us. “I was able to chat with Felipe VI and Queen Letizia on delivery the ABC awards and They told me they liked it a lot. “They are all happy.” And he adds: “I am also very grateful for How has the public received the painting?. “I was afraid of the reaction, but it was really liked, so I’m very happy.”
© GTRES“The painting belongs to all Spaniards”
The work was commissioned by the Zaragoza Military Academybut the Ferrer Dalmau Foundation decided donate the work“because the painting belongs to all Spaniards.” They sent him a collection of photos and “I took details from each one to put together my own composition. I wanted a princess in a combat uniformwith the gun, the grancé cap, the backpack. A natural image, which reflects what she has experienced during the maneuvers as just another soldier.”
© FFD (FERRER DALMAU FOUNDATION)Ferrer-Dalmau painted the painting, which measures 62 by 53, in August and It took about three weeks to finish with an average of eight hours of work per day. “What cost me was get the expression“I gave it a lot of thought.”
The work, oil on canvas, will be presented on October 18 at the AGM in Zaragoza, where it will be permanently exhibited. Since it is a Friday, it remains to be confirmed whether the Princess of Asturias, who is training as a Midshipman at the Marín Naval School (Pontevedra), will be able to be present at the event.
© SOCIAL NETWORKSA gallery of kings
Dalmau also has underway the first collection of royal portraits. From the Catholic Monarchs to Felipe VI. Under his judgment and supervision, promising artists with a solid academic background, between 28 and 30 years old, are executing 22 canvases for History… And the first five are already finished. That of Isabella the Catholic, Ferdinand of Aragon, Juana I (‘the Mad’), Philip I ‘the Beautiful’ and Charles I of Spain and V of Germany. All of them 1.40 meters high by 1.20 meters wide (half body), and wearing military uniforms, except for Isabel the Catholic and Isabel IIwhich have been designed to dress them in palace clothing.
Felipe VI on horseback
Ferrer-Dalmau will be in charge of everything, he will guide the young painters through history and his technique, and will be personally in charge of painting King Felipe VI, which will complete the collection of royal portraits.
But this will not be the only work that Dalmau has devised for the Monarch. Among his most immediate projects is also painting him riding a horse for the Royal Guard Museum. For this purpose, please refer to the training stage of the General Military Academy of Zaragoza and will continue the romantic and elegant tradition of the equestrian paintings of our Kings, as the artist said in 2014 when he presented the first painting of King Juan Carlos. A portrait of His Majesty in his youth with a cadet uniform (also from his time in Zaragoza) and a lot of bearing on a chestnut horse, which has since been exhibited in the Museum of the Royal Guard, in El Pardo (Madrid).
© FERRER DALMAU FOUNDATION“A dream come true”
This royal portrait project is promoted by the Ferrer-Dalmau Foundation, which Don Pedro de Borbón-Two Sicilies presidesDuke of Calabria, and was created in 2021 as the great vital career project of the Catalan painter.
It is “a dream come true” with which to “promote research, highlighting the historical and artistic resources of Spain and form a great family of artists that helps us capture images of the past.”
The Kings’ ‘gallery’, the first complete collection of the Spanish monarchs, will be presented starting in 2026 and will become part of a permanent exhibition in the Palacio del Infante don Luis, in Boadilla del Monte. A beautiful eighteenth-century building that was declared a national monument in 1974.
