Hermenegildo Anglada-Camarasa

Private collection, Barcelona

Barcelona, Real Círculo Artístico, Exposición-Homenaje Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa, 1955

Francesc Fontbona and Francesc Miralles, Anglada Camarasa, Barcelona, 1981, p. 258, no. C14, catalogued & illustrated

The canvas has not been lined. There are some minor spots of superficial abrasion along the upper edge and some fine craquelure in the background. Ultra-violet light reveals areas of uneven opaque varnish, and some scattered spots of strengthening in the blue pigments of the background, notably towards the upper right corner and in the left arm, and some strokes along the lower and left framing edges. Although some of this retouching has discoloured over time, this is only visible under close inspection and is not particularly distracting. The pictures is otherwise in good condition and ready to hang. Presented in a dark wooden frame.
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By the nineteenth century, Spain had embraced Gypsy myth and lore. The Romantics were in awe of the gypsies for their otherworldliness and seeming ability to commune with nature, while the following generation of artists and writers, driven by patriotism in the wake of Spain's colonial losses, venerated the gypsy as the quintessential icon of Spanish identity. Nonell, Zuloaga, and Solana were among Anglada's contemporaries who endowed the gitana with a gravitas, at times playful, at times austere, that linked her inextricably with Spain's psyche.

Painted circa 1907, the present work is amongst the first paintings by the artist dedicated to this subject. Standing before a Mediterranean landscape, a gitana holds a bouquet above her head as she dances the flamenco. Depicting the gypsy as a synthesis of brilliant colours and rhythmic forms, Anglada lifts her out of reality to a wholly aesthetic plane. The colours are mesmeric, while the striking rhythmical forms have a musicality about them which is reminiscent of the gypsy sub-culture most nobly embodied by dance and flamenco.