Martín Rico y Ortega

Sale: Parke-Bernet, Newport, Works of Art at Chateau-Sur-Mer, Newport Residence of the Late Edith M.K. Wetmore & Maude A.K. Wetmore,  September 16-17, 1969, lot 563, illustrated

Rico was born in Madrid to a family of artists who secured him a position in the studio of Jenaro Pérez Villamil.  In 1859, he won a scholarship to study landscape painting and embarked on a journey to Paris with Raimundo de Madrazo. For the remainder of his career, Rico traveled back and forth from Paris and Madrid, working alongside many of the Barbizon painters.  He reserved his highest praise for the compact, yet open riverscapes of Charles Daubigny and the brillant, electric light of Mariano y Fortuny's work.

His fascination with light led Rico to Venice where he painted luminous cityscapes, including Le Pont Vert. He exhibited over sixteen Venetian scenes during the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1878, winning a prize and the cross of the Legion of Honor.  Writer Paul Lefort remarked, "although [Rico] is fanatical about strong light, about rare tones which resemble precious gems, he is careful, at least, not to overstep the strictly circumscribed boundaries of human vision... and his handling is never dry in spite of the distinct outlines of his scenes" (Hispanic Society of America, Martin Rico Y Ortega in the collection of the Hispanic Society of America, New York, 1937, p. 20).