The painting ‘Éloge du maquillage’ (Praise of Makeup) is the last Degas authenticateda cake that, after a century and a half of hectic life with trips and confiscations during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), it was presented this Monday as one of the rare works by the artist preserved in Spain. ‘In Praise of Makeup’ belongs to an anonymous private collector who, after acquiring it, wanted to authenticate it and to do so he counted on the expert Michel Schulman, author of the catalog of Edgar Degas (1834-1917) which has more than 1,750 works, for the moment.
“The authentication of this work comes after an exhaustive pigment analysisa meticulous study carried out with X-rays and photographs, among other techniques,” he said at a press conference Michael Schulmanwho explained that ‘In Praise of Makeup’ comes from another work by the French painter, ‘Le Client Sérieux’ (The Serious Client) from 1879.
The work “is a brothel scenean important theme in the works of Degas, who drew many of his nudes in places he knew well,” Schulman recalled.
“Degas used to create paintings based on a scene or character from another previous work,” added this expert, who reported that in Spain there are few Degas: three in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, in Madrid, one in the Montserrat Museum, in Barcelona, and some in private collections.
‘Praise of makeup’ is a pastel on cardboard with the signature of the French painter in the lower right marginaccording to Schulman, who highlighted that two women are seen in it, one of them in profile and the other in the center of the cardboard powdering her nose.
The hectic life of a painting
The history of this painting begins when the watercolorist and illustrator from Barcelona, based in Paris, Julián Bastinos (1852-1918), He bought it in 1887.
Later, Bastinos settled in Cairowhere he took the painting “as proven by the label of a frame in a luxury frame house in Alexandria that appears on the back,” detailed art historian Judith Urbano.
After the death of Bastinos in 1918, the cake returned to Spain thanks to his brother Antoniobut in 1934 the painting It was seized shortly before the Civil War (1936-1939), “a confiscation that took place under the protection of the Law of the Generalitat of Catalonia (regional government) in order to preserve the artistic heritage,” Urbano said.
Another label indicates that for a time It was kept in the Pedralbes Monastery. (Barcelona) and another shows the legend “Recovered from the enemy” from the Ministry of National Education dated January 1939, “a date that coincides with the entry of General Franco’s troops into Barcelona” (at the end of the civil war), he remembered.
The next year, The work was acquired by Joan Llonch Salaspresident of the Bank of Sabadell and the Academy of Fine Arts of Sabadell (Barcelona) and since then it remained in the family, until the acquisition by the current owner.
A fourth label reminds us that This work was in the Gaspar exhibition hall in Barcelona the only time it was exhibited in public, although this Tuesday he will return to the public scene at the Ateneo de Madrid, but only for a few hours; then you will return to private rooms.
