Julio Romero de Torres stood out for being a great portraitist, a genre that he developed especially during the first two decades of the 20th century, although we find examples throughout the chronology that covers his production. He was interested in a wide variety of social types: from friends, copleras, bullfighters, writers, politicians and women from both popular and high society backgrounds; represented individually or collectively, and taking into account more realistic, symbolist or allegorical tendencies.  Some of these portraits were commissioned, but many others were based on the choice of the painter, who selected anonymous models. Rosarillo, specifically, is part of one of the portraits called “girls” or “good little girls.”

The work of Julio Romero de Torres was – and continues to be – an object of inspiration for other texts. On this occasion, this portrait of Rosarillo, along with other models, was the protagonist of the poem Las mujeres de Romero de Torres (1918) by Manuel Machado:

Delicious bread of this brown, molded meat

in an air caress of sigh and aroma…

Charming mermaid and fascinated lover,

the arched necks, of a snake or a dove…

Your names, of mint and of illusion, we know:

Carmen, Lola, Rosario… Evocation of enjoyment,

Adela… The Women we all know,

that we all know and no one knows them!

Orange trees, lemon trees, gardens, olive groves,

lust of the earth, divine and sensual,

that watches over the august presence of the cypress.

In this background, essence of flowers and songs,

the immortal brush fixed you forever

of our unspeakable Leonardo from Córdoba.

Rosarillo fits perfectly with the representation of popular female types, so prominent in her production. Insert the portrait into a neutral background composition that constricts the face, focusing on its expressiveness and serenity and on the neck.