In November 2018, artist María Bisbal was invited to exhibit her work at the new headquarters of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation of Spain, on the occasion of the 10th Congress of the Ibero-American Academies of Law.
Bocetos del retrato de Landelino Lavilla Alsina.
The inauguration of the Congress was presided over by King Felipe VI, Minister of Justice, Dolores Delgado, and the President of the Academy, José Antonio Escudero.
The exhibition featured a carefully curated selection of works by the artist, including three large canvases of colour fields — the result of her extensive research into chromatic glazing techniques — as well as two intimate painted portraits and several preparatory sketches. These studies served as the groundwork for the official portraits of Academy presidents later executed by the artist.
Her contribution to the Academy’s portrait gallery — one of the most extensive of its kind, composed of over 70 works and headed by an anonymous portrait of King Charles III — includes the portraits of Manuel Pizarro (2023), José María Escudero (2021), José Luis Díez-Picazo (2018), and Landelino Lavilla (2015), all painted with a refined technique that combines documentary precision with artistic sensitivity.
In 2013, Bisbal also completed the portrait of Luis Jiménez de Asúa, President of the Academy in exile during the Spanish Civil War. His inclusion in the gallery was guided by historical recovery standars, and the artist approached the piece with a style faithful to the period in which the portrait would likely have been painted, ensuring its coherent integration into the chronological sequence of the collection.
This project reflects an understanding of portraiture as a means of preserving institutional history and legacy.