Spanish school of the second half of the 19th century. "Portrait of a lady. Photograph coloured with gouache. Period frame. Size: 20 x 15 cm; 31 x 26 cm (frame). As in the rest of Europe, the portrait became in the 19th century the leading genre par excellence in Spanish painting, as a consequence of the new social structures that were established in the Western world throughout this century, embodying the maximum expression of the transformation of the taste and mentality of the new clientele, which arose among the nobility and the wealthy upper middle class, who would take the reins of history in this period. While official circles gave precedence to other artistic genres, such as history painting, and the incipient collectors encouraged the profusion of genre paintings, portraits were in great demand for paintings intended for the more private sphere, as a reflection of the value of the individual in the new society. This genre embodies the permanent presence of the image of its protagonists, to be enjoyed in the privacy of a studio, in the everyday warmth of a family cabinet or presiding over the main rooms of the house.