Lot 354: f - LUIS PARET Y ALCÁZAR MADRID 1746 - 1799

inscribed on a label on the reverse: 10/H. Collectie

oil on canvas

30.8 by 25.5 cm.; 12 by 10 in.

J.J. Luna, 'Luis Paret y Alcázar. Obras Inéditas y Otras Consideraciones sobre su Pintura', in Archivo Español de Arte, no. 244, 1988, p. 378, reproduced p. 379, figure 4.

A private collection, Barcelona, by 1988;
The Heidsick Collection, Lausanne.

This delightful study of An Elegant Company Preparing for a Masked Ball is by the leading Spanish rococo painter of the second half of the 18^th century, Luis Paret y Alcázar. The painting can be dated to the period of the artist's early maturity, between 1767 and 1775, and in the range of brushwork and lightness of touch it constitutes a picture of great spontaneity and refinement.

Luis Paret y Alcázar was born in Madrid in 1746, the same year as Francisco de Goya. His father was of French origin (although as implied by his name of Catalan extraction), which may partially account for his adherence to the style of the great 18^th century French rococo painters, which earned him the epithet 'The Spanish Watteau'. By the age of ten he had entered the Academia Real de San Fernando in Madrid, which at the time was directed by Corrado Giaquinto, whose rococo style, along with that of Paret's teacher Antonio González Velázaquez, would also have an enduring influence on the young artist's work.

In 1763 Paret attracted the royal patronage of the Infante Don Luis Antonio de Borbón (1727 - 1785), brother of King Charles III, who sponsored the artist's sojourn to Rome from 1763-66 for the completion of his artistic training. After his return to Madrid in 1767, Paret enjoyed a position of high social status, spending time at the court and other royal residences, in particular the palace at Aranjuez (where in 1770 he painted Las Parejas Reales, now in the Museo del Prado). It was during this time that he painted a number of court and social scenes, including his famous painting of the Baile en Máscara, signed and dated 1767, today in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (see J.L. Morales y Marin, Luis Paret, Zaragoza 1997, pp. 110-12, cat. no. 9, reproduced p. 18), for which there is a drawing in the British Museum. The present work can be convincingly dated, on grounds of style and type, to the period of the artist's early maturity, which spans from his return to Madrid in 1767 until 1775, when he was banished by Royal decree to Puerto Rico, following the public disgracing of his Royal patron (over his voracious sexual appetite) and accusations that the artist acted as accomplice within the scandal.

The present work can be compared closely in subject matter and handling to the artist's painting of the Baile en Máscara, which depicts the interior of the Teatro del Príncipe in Madrid, crowded with elegant figures dressed for a mask ball. The costumes, the figures types and the poses in the present work are echoed in the Prado painting, which also shares in common the bright, lively colouring so characteristic of the artist's work. The handling of the present work also resembles that in the artist's painting of Ensayo de una Comedia, dateable circa 1772-75, today in the Museo del Prado (see op. cit., pp. 120-21, cat. no. 26, reproduced p. 90), in which the artist has employed a similar lightness of touch and rapid brushwork in the drawing and definition of form, as well as the distinctive lines of white tracery, so prominent in the present work and visible, for example, in the delineation of the flooring in the Prado painting.

The apparent unfinished state of the present work affords a fascinating insight into the artist's technique. In the imposing - and almost certainly fantastical - architectural backdrop, large sections of unpainted canvas reveal highly skilled and spirited areas of under-drawing, over which the artist has built up fine layers of body and colour. The range of brushwork is remarkable, with many of the most prominent parts of the composition rendered with a high degree of finish and detail (most notably the figures), whilst other parts of the scene are treated with cursory brushwork in which the artist has deliberately allowed the warm brown ground to show through, lending an additional texture to the paint surface. Some of the outlines of the architecture, the drapery and in particular the urn on the right margin are delineated with lines of white tracery with an extraordinary level of precision, recalling his independent studies of architectural and sculptural objects painted as blueprints for his architectural projects. In its seemingly incomplete state, this picture not only provides a fascinating insight into the artist's technique, but it also represents one his most spontaneous and delightful creations.