Consuelo

Consuelo of 1904, in the MNAC, rounds out the group of named Roma portraits from 1904 — a year of concentrated output for Nonell in the series. Consuelo means consolation in Spanish, and like the other named works it places the personal and the allegorical in unresolvable tension: the woman before us is both an individual named Consuelo and a figure whose life challenges any easy access to consolation. The MNAC's collection of the complete named group — Amparo, Pelona, Consuelo, Dolores — allows the full scope of Nonell's naming practice to be understood, each title adding a layer of meaning that enriches the whole series rather than standing alone.

The 1904 technique is fully consolidated by this point in the series: the dark earthy palette, the loose but purposeful brushwork, the compressed shallow space, and the concentrated attention on the face are all held in consistent balance. Consuelo's figure is rendered with the quality of contained presence that Nonell achieved across the best works of this year — present, specific, and resistant to sentimentalisation.