Author: Xavi

CAEM team discovers a previously unpublished drawing by Francisco de Goya

It is an exquisite pencil portrait on paper of Juana Galarza de Goicoechea, a wealthy merchant who was part of the painter’s in-laws.

Galarza_detail

The fixed clear gaze and the hint of a smile on her lips make her face friendly. This is how Francisco de Goya immortalised Juana Galarza de Goicoechea in a fine pencil portrait: a wealthy merchant who was part of the painter’s family-in-law (his son, Javier de Goya, married Gumersinda de Goicoechea, the second daughter of the portrayed).

It is an exquisite miniature in pencil on paper, depicting the profile of a mature woman, with a lost but serene gaze, dressed in the fashion of the first decade of the 19th century and with her hair tied up in a high, regency-style up-do. After an in-depth, long, meditated and contrasted study, which has lasted just over three years, Doctor Ximo Company and the researcher Jésica Martí, from the Centre of Art of the Modern Period in Lleida, have linked the woman to Juana Galarza, and have attributed the piece to Francisco de Goya.

This opinion has been contrasted with different experts on the subject and they have all agreed on the great quality of the piece: it is a small miniature drawing made in a very resolute and dynamic way, with a fine and exquisite result. It is beautiful, elegant and exudes an air of freedom. The portrait could only have been drawn by someone very close to the Goicoechea family, and, moreover, it had to be someone with great talent, an intuitive and trained hand, which is evident in the ease with which each of the strokes has been drawn: above all, the wild tuft of hair screams out that it has been done by the hand of the Aragonese master, Francisco de Goya.

The work has an inscription on the lower right-hand side, a type of annotation quite common among 19th-century collectors who tried to bring order to their art collections by writing the name of the artist to whom they suspected the piece belonged: in this case Goya.

The research process has been long, as it has been approached from many different points of view so as not to leave any loose ends, and it has been worth it: the paper corresponds to the first decade of the 19th century; the woman depicted is from Goya’s direct environment; the type of piece – a pencil portrait – is part of Goya’s production; and it would even fit in perfectly with the evolution of portraiture in Goya, and within the modes of representation used for his family in particular. Each question has been answered and no stone has been left unturned. But, moreover, the lines are not only Goya’s: they are Goya’s own. The work belongs to a private collection.

CAEM discovers an unpublished Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)

This is one of the best and most highly valued United States painters of the 19th century, which underlines the exceptional value of this piece in Spain.

 Peale

The CAEM has been studying during months this portentous portrait from a Spanish collection, the portrayed of which it has not been possible to identify, at least for the moment. Even so, the finesse of its execution and the high quality of its flesh tones and the precision of the whites indicated that we were dealing with the work of a great painter.

All these elements are typical of the great American painter Rembrandt Peale, to whom the CAEM, after a laborious process of research, attributes this canvas. The back of the canvas also has a series of allusions to prints, which refer to its English manufacture, as the linen fabrics were marked with the crown seal, the supplier’s seal and a series of alphanumeric characters. All this, together with the neoclassical clothing of the portrayed gentleman, suggests that the piece was made in England, probably during Peale’s trip to England in 1834.

Throughout his career he produced a large number of works, particularly portraits such as the present one, among which the ones he painted of Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson stand out for the importance of the figures depicted; Peale’s best works are considered to be those executed between 1810 and 1830, as they reveal his ability to capture the essence of the portrayed, even those with strong characters. During these three decades his naturalistic and classicist style was synthesised in accordance with both English and American models, sometimes with a certain preference for one school over the other, although the influence of the great Jacques-Louis David never entirely disappeared.

A new Morales comes to light

Morales

The work, studied by the CAEM’s scientifc consultant and former professor at the CSIC, Dra. Isabel Mateo Gómez, represents a new milestone in the production of the Extremaduran genius

The ability to move through the depiction of pain, which forces the viewer to join the figure in the most human aspect of Christ’s suffering, is the flagship of the painting of Luis de Morales, known as the Divine, for his ability to capture this pathos in his religious painting and for his artistic gifts, unparalleled in his day with the exception of El Greco.

All this is evident in this exquisite Jesus with the Cross on his shoulders that falls for the first time, which dates from 1550 according to the inscription of the upper right-hand corner of the panel. The composition, which is new and different from those in the Morales corpus, recalls models by the Toledo artist Correa de Vivar and the Valencian Joan de Joanes. The modelling of the hands, Christ’s musculature, the rope around his neck, the aquiline nose joined to the eyebrows, the eyes deviated by pain, the mouth showing the teeth, the treatment of the Saviour’s hair and his ear are all fully in keeping with the unique character of the Extremaduran painter.

On this occasion, Dra. Isabel Mateo Gómez, scientific consultant to the CAEM and leading expert in the study of the painter, was asked to lead the analysis of this piece, producing an exciting attribution report in which she details all those aspects that claim the paternity of the artwork, attributing it without any doubt to the painter. Based on the valuable text by Dra. Mateo Gómez, the CAEM research team, apart from enjoying this exceptional painting, has complemented the aforementioned study by carrying out a series of analytical techniques, especially Digital Microscopy and Infrared Photography (IR), confirming and underpinning the artwork of the great expert Mateo Gómez, above all from the meticulous observation of the painting. Once again, the analytical sum of techniques and collegiate views has been the major distinguishing and differential point of the CAEM Group.

Critical review by Ximo Company and Marc Borrás of the book Disegni spagnoli e italiani del Cinquecento della Biblioteca Nacional de España, Roma, 2020, with texts and edition by Benito Navarrete Prieto and Gonzalo Redín Michaus

The book is a splendid collection of 16th-century drawings held in the Biblioteca Nacional de España. It stand out for the choral study of the different drawings and the careful edition achieved with an excellent quality of the images provided.

portada_navarrete

The work of professors Navarrete and Redín is very important because, in addition to making known the excellent collection of drawings kept in the Biblioteca Nacional de España, this allows to gain a better understanding of Spain’s well-known relations with the Italian peninsula, whose art was greatly appreciated throughout the 16th century. It also shows how many Spanish painters were open to new Italian influences, which they absorbed and embraced as their own. The book also clearly shows the large number of Italian artists who settled in Spain, as well as the no lesser number of Spanish painters who crossed the sea to learn first-hand about the powerful and influential mannerism that prevailed in Italy.

To see Marc Borrás and Ximo Company’s full review click here

Gianluigi Colalucci (Roma 1929-2021): “in memoriam”. One of the best restaurateus in the world

He was director of the conservation and restoration laboratories at the Vatican. From 1980 to 1994 he was in charge of the restoration of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He participated in the Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Pintura de Época Moderna. De Miguel Ángel a Goya, held at the Universitat de Lleida in 2013. He has been an active Scientific Consultant of the CAEM (2013-2021).

colalucci_memoriam

The highlight of his professional career as a conservator and restorer was his work in the Sistine Chapel, where he achieved a non-invasive recovery of Michelangelo Buonarrotti’s original polychromy. After 500 years, more than 1.200 square metres of mural painting were brought back to life, after rescuing the paint that had been buried by layers of soot and dust accumulated over time; in addition, Colalucci, with the help of Maurizio Rossi and Piergiorgio Bonetti, managed to remove with great care and precision a pernicious animal glue applied three hundred years ago to fix the colours.

In addition to the great work mentioned above, his many other works in the field of panel and canvas painting can be seen in the doctoral thesis written by his wife, Daniela Bartoletti, and defended at the Polytechnic University of Valencia on 22 February 2010. Professor Ximo Company, director of the CAEM, was on the examining board that judged this splendid thesis with the highest mark. The title of the thesis already says a lot: Gianluigi Colalucci y su trayectoria restauradora. Un viaje a través de las transformaciones en el mundo de la restauración desde Cesare Brandi a nuestros días (2010). Daniela Bartoletti also honours us as Scientific Consultant of CAEM, Universitat de Lleida.

Since 2013 he has been Scientific Consultant of the CAEM (UdL), and has always been distinguished by his cordiality and his solicitous attention to all our scientific requests and queries. The entire CAEM research team remembers him with admiration and gratitude.

Ferran Bono, editor of El País, presents the artwork of El Greco attributed by CAEM

The journalist recounts in his article on Christ with the cross on his back (oil on canvas, 57’5 x 38’5 cm, ca. 1585-1590) a brief summary of the essence of the meticulous investigation that has culminated with the attribution to the Cretan master, carried out by researcher Mariona Navarro, the recently deceased Dra. Carmen Garrido and Dr. Ximo Company.

News_cristogreco

View the entire news in paper version, here.

The CAEM studies, identifies and certifies an exceptional unpublished painting by El Greco

The work has been studied jointly with Dr. Carmen Garrido (Madrid 1947-2020; emeritus director of the “Gabinete Técnico de El Museo del Prado”). To her memory, and with deep gratitude, we dedicate this writing.

Cristo con la cruz a cuestas

It has been a long research, elaborated with great care, like Carmen Garrido enjoyed working. Extensive research that CAEM researchers will remember for a lifetime. A priceless opportunity to work with a real teacher, very wise, in the history of art in this country. As Carmen Garrido looked at the painting, no one in Spain has ever done it. She penetrated every pictorial work she examined in a unique way.

Thank you very much, dear Carmen, for teaching us so much, and for distilling among us, in a very generous way, the good and best of your perceptual and analytical wisdom.

New post

CAEM researcher Jésica Martí gives a conference on the artistic production of Agustí Masvidal

As member of the Centre d’Art d’Època Moderna (an institution that has catalogued more than 3,000 artworks by Masvidal), and as an expert in the artist’s production, she closes with her lecture the cycle of activities about the painter, organized by the Ajuntament de Sabadell, the Museu d’Art de Sabadell and the Masvidal family.

conference

The conference, very entertaining and enriching, can be enjoyed by visiting the website of the Museu d’Art de Sabadell.

TO DRA. CARMEN GARRIDO, SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR OF CAEM (2015-2020), IN MEMORIAM

Carmen Garrido

 

Carmen Garrido Pérez (Madrid 1947-2020) has undoubtedly been, due to her profound way of seeing and analysing pictorial artworks, one of the most innovative figures in the History of Spanish and European Art. Weeks before he died he wrote with relish, together with various researchers from the CAEM (Univ. De Lleida), about Velázquez.

She was Doctor from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Art History, with the thesis Contribución al estudio de pinturas hispano-flamencas y renacentistas utilizando los métodos físico-químicos de examen científico, doctoral thesis directed by Gratiniano Nieto Gallo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1979); and she was also Curator of Cuerpo Facultativo de Museos de España. Until now, she was the Emeritus Director of the Gabinete de Documentación Técnica of the Museo Nacional del Prado, one of the most complete and active in the world, created by herself in 1980.

During the last years of her life, already emeritus at the Museo Nacional del Prado, but active non-stop, she gave us her invaluable analytical and perceptual teaching to all the researchers of the Center d’Art d’Època Moderna (CAEM) of the University of Lleida. It was our pole star. We owe him immense gratitude. We learned the unspeakable. She was our scientific director for years and we were fortunate to work side by side with her. Thank you very much, dear Carmen.

To see the bibliography, click here

The exaltedness of the angels in the Cathedral of Valencia, a masterpiece of Renaissance mural painting in Spain

Professors Miguel Ángel Herrero (Universitat Politècnica de València) and Ximo Company (Univeritat de Lleida) have published an extensive study on the aforementioned angels: “Del fresc a l’oli: les pràctiques pictòriques de Paolo de San Leocadio al Regne de València i al ducat de Gandia”, in Una comunitat humana al llarg de la historia: la Safor. Estudis dedicats a Vicent Olaso Cendra, Catarroja-Barcelona, Afers, 2020, pp. 555-593.

Paolo de San Leocadio

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