Martín Rico, Madrid 1833-1908

Galt Gallery, Fort Lauderdale
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 7 May 1998, lot 184

In 1878 the art critic Paul Lefort wrote of Rico in La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 'Although a fanatic when it comes to light, and an aficionado of rare and augmented colour tonalities which, in his works, resemble precious stones, he refrains from over-stepping the limits of human vision … The Grand Canal of Venice, the Slaves’ Wharf, his views of Rome, of Toledo, of the Escorial and of Granada are […] inimitable morceaux which reveal his talents in composition as well as his care in execution.' (quoted in Carlos González and Montse Martí, Spanish Painters in Rome, 1850-1900, Madrid, 1987, pp. 182-3).

The popularity of Venice views in Rico’s day was rooted in the Grand Tour phenomenon which had begun over a century earlier. Wealthy young men from Britain, Germany and other northern European countries would set out for Italy – one of the cradles of classical civilisation and of the renaissance – as a culmination of their classical education. Very often their travels would end in Venice, Florence or Rome, giving rise to a huge demand for 'souvenir' views of these cities. During the eighteenth century that demand was satisfied by such famous painters as Guardi and Canaletto. By the late nineteenth century the Grand Tour was in decline, but more general tourism had increased, spuring a continued demand for Venetian views. However, for painters of all nationalities, including Rico, Venice was not merely a commercial subject, being attracted by its intrinsic beauty and luminosity.

Rico was born in El Escorial, Madrid. His formal education was completed at the San Fernando School in Madrid. Soon after graduating, he took to painting out of doors and travelled widely throughout Spain. He won a government scholarship to study in Paris, where he came under the influence of Daubigny and the Barbizon School. In 1870, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussia war, he returned to Spain. In 1872, accompanied by Mariano Fortuny, he toured Italy, where he was above all impressed by the splendour of Venice, whose sites and light he captured in innumerable paintings. From 1879, by which time he had made Paris his permanent home, he spent his summers in Venice, renting a palazzo in which to paint. He would often work sitting in a gondola, sketching buildings and bridges as seen from the water.