Detractors consider it to be among the least brilliant periods in Spanish painting, in which there was a highly respectable level of skill, but no significant advancement of the form.
Spanish history was a predominant theme, especially from the Middle Ages and the reign of the Catholic Monarchs (Reyes Católicos).
Anecdotal and sentimental scenes were the most popular, depicting highpoints of Spanish history with a human perspective, though not venturing beyond the earthly specifics of the subject.
Fortuny was credited with creating the tableautin (small tableau), a diminutive format depicting a comic or pleasant theme mainly intended to adorn the interior of a home.
Two others, Antonio Gisbert and José Casado del Alisal, were exponents of the bipartisan front for the imperial political regime of the time.