The Danish-born Christian Franzen (1864-1923) came to Spain at the beginning of the reign of María Cristina de Habsburg. In his elegant studio on Calle del Príncipe in Madrid, he created his prestigious catalog of portraits, in which we find members of the royal family and, from the king down, everyone who mattered in the high society of the time. As Madrid opened up to the 20th century, Franzen could be found in the capital's aristocratic salons, so generously described by social chroniclers. In these cenacles of the restored monarchy the photographer was present, displaying his personal elegance, his ingratiating language and his natural talent for seduction and treatment. His accounts of Madrid social life at the end of the century were collected in the album Los salons de Madrid (1898), with a text by Monte-Cristo and a prologue by Emilia Pardo Bazán. But Franzen was also a cultured person and was close to artists and writers who sincerely appreciated his talent and the subtlety of his register. His friendship with Emilia Pardo Bazán, Juan Valera and above all with Pérez Galdós and Joaquín Sorolla gave rise to magnificent portraits with which the photographer compiled the best gallery of famous people of his time, comparable only to that of Laurent in the yours. On the occasion of the first 100th anniversary of his death, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando is commemorating, with a book and an exhibition, this forgotten and extraordinary photographer, without whose work we would not be able to understand the history of the Regency of Madrid and our own. History of Spanish Photography.
Goya Tapestry Room in the Palace of the Margraves of Viana. Christian Franzen (Pedro Melero archive)
Cabinet of the Hotel of the Dukes of Valencia. Christian Franzen (Pedro Melero archive)
Dining room of the Palace of the Marquises of La Romana. Christian Franzen (Archives of Pedro Melero)
Living room of the Marquises of Vistabella Hotel. Christian Franzen (Pedro Melero archive)
Dining room of the house of Emilia Pardo Bazán.Christian Franzen (Archives of Pedro Melero)
Greenhouse of the Hotel of the Infanta Eulalia de Borbón.Christian Franzen (Archive Pedro Melero)
Staircase of the House of the Counts of Esteban Collantes. Christian Franzen (Archives of Pedro Melero)
Ballroom of the Palace of the Marquis of Cerralbo. Christian Franzen (Pedro Melero archive)
Hall of the French Embassy. Christian Franzen (Pedro Melero archive)
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