The Dying Contrabandista

The Dying Contrabandista is an oil on canvas genre painting by the British artist John Phillip, from 1858. It is held in the Royal Collection.^[1]

The Dying Contrabandista
Artist	John Phillip
Year	1858
Type	Oil on canvas, genre painting
Dimensions	130 cm × 200 cm (52 in × 80 in)
Location	Royal Collection

History and description

Formerly a member of The Clique artistic group, later in his career Phillip concentrated on scenes of Spanish life and was a favourite painter of Queen Victoria.^[2]

The canvas portrays a fatally wounded smuggler (Spanish: contrabandista) dying in the arms of his beloved. Other two members of the smugglers gang, stands sentry, looking out of the windows, one of them, at the left, is holding a rifle. The dying's man donkey stands nearby. The theme of a wounded guerrilla had previously been used by David Wilkie in a scene of the Peninsular War.^[3] It was displayed the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition of 1858.

It provided inspiration for the 1866 opera The Contrabandista by Arthur Sullivan and F.C. Burnand.^[4] The work was acquired by Queen Victoria in 1858 for 650 guineas as a Christmas gift for her husband, Prince Albert. Today the painting remains in the Royal Collection.^[5]