Mariano Fortuny

McLean, London, 1874
Mariano de Murrieta, London (acquired from the above. Murrieta, Marquess of Santurce, a banker of Spanish origin living in London, assembled a large and diverse collection of pictures and works of art which he housed in a purpose built gallery. His collection included paintings by Zamacois, Léon y Escosura, Tusquets, Tapiró and Mas y Fondevila, but the painter that he supported most was Fortuny. The sale of Murietta's collection in 1892 included nineteen works by the artist).

Ricardo de Madrazo, Recuerdos de mi vida, unpublished (prior to 1874), dossier A, p. 3, mentioned
Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, New York, 1887, no. 16
Joaquín Ciervo, El arte y el vivir de Fortuny, Barcelona, 1921, no. 78, illustrated
Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, Fortuny 1838-1874, Bologna, 1933, no. 29.
Carlos González and Montserrat Martí, Mariano Fortuny Marsal: Maestros del arte de los siglos XIX y XX, Barcelona, 1989, vol. II, p. 47, no. OR-0.01.73, illustrated
Fortuny, MNAC, exh. cat., Barcelona, 2004, p. 46, a detail illustrated; p. 55, discussed & illustrated

This condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar Ltd. Fine Art Conservation, 14 Masons Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6BU. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas has been lined and this is providing an even and secure structural support. The canvas is attached to a wooden keyed stretcher, which appears to be the artist's original. An area of raised craquelure is visible in the figure, particularly within his torso; this seems stable and is not particularly visually distracting. There is also an area of drying craquelure situated in the lower left corner of the composition which also appears stable. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a heavily discoloured varnish layer and several scattered retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) a series of small, carefully applied lines within the figure's turban, 2) a thin horizontal line beneath the figure's right arm, 3) two small areas of retouching to the left of the shield, and 4) a further thin horizontal line of retouching situated to the left of the figure's right knee. Other small, carefully applied retouchings are visible within and around the figure. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good
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Painted in Rome in 1873 at the height of his career, a year before his untimely death at the early age of 36, Fortuny's large and dramatic canvas Arab before a Tapestry displays the full flowering of his painterly talents and pays homage to the two cultures closest to his heart: his native Spain and the mystery and exoticism of North Africa.

Although he spent most of his working life in Rome, Fortuny was attracted to the near-Orient at an early age when he travelled to Tetuan as a war artist during the Spanish-Moroccan war of 1859-60. He returned on two subsequent occasions when he was especially attracted to Tangiers, popularly referred to at the time as 'Little Constantinople'. On his travels he made copious notes, sketched and painted and also collected mementos and artefacts with which to decorate his Roman studio and incorporate into his compositions.

In contrast, he rediscovered the wonders of his native Spain at the end of his life when he travelled to the south of the country and visited Granada and the Moorish Palace of the Alhambra for the first time in 1870. Above all it was the light there that he found so compelling, adding a new found richness to his palette and a renewed sense of ambition to his compositions.

Fortuny's stage management of the marriage of Moorish and Western cultures in Arab before a Tapestry is carefully arranged for optimum theatrical effect. The richly patterned vertical drop of the Persian Safavid carpet forms a magnificent background to the standing Arab swaithed in a white robe, who holds a Moroccan musket horizontally above his chest. To one side of him Fortuny has placed a Spanish twelfth century ivory inlaid casket; to the other a magnificent example of sixteenth century round Hispano-Moresque lustreware. Above the man a hanging Mosque glass is suspended. 

A photograph of Fortuny dressed in Arab costume holding a gun in a similar stance to the figure in the present work suggests an element of self-portraiture in the composition, while the cruciform pose that the Arab holds and the hieratic combination of elements all around him indicates the veneration of the artist to his subject.    

For a preparatory drawing for the present lot see: Goupil et Cie., Oeuvres de Fortuny reproduites en photographies, Paris, 1875, pl. XXXVI