José Vital Branco Malhoa

Sra. Celina Guinle de Paula Machado (1959)
Thence by descent
Purchased by the present owner circa 2000 from the above

Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, José Malhoa - Retrospectiva, 1959, no. 9, illustrated in the catalogue

The panel is sound. The work is in overall good condition, with some slight patches of craquelure and yellowing of the white pigment, some pinholes mainly to the corners of the work and some light abrasion mainly to the bottom and right edges. Ultraviolet light reveals no readily visible retouching but some fluorescence to the abrasion. Held in an elaborate gold-painted frame with floral swags, moulded in plaster on wood.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A master in the depiction of scenes from Portuguese rural communities, the present work exemplifies Malhoa's consummate ability to record with a lightness of touch and sincerity of feeling Realist costumbrista scenes.

At the foot of a large shady tree a barber, razor in his right hand, tilts the head of his customer backwards with his left hand to give a close shave. Behind the barber and his customer two men are in discussion; to the left side of the composition a road leads into a village.  

The work compares with Malhoa's Os Bebados (The Drunkards) in its humourous depiction of working men employed in simple daily rituals and exchanges. Festivals, processions, harvests and daily toil in the fields were subjects that Malhoa embraced, often inspired by the artist's life in Estremadura, the town where he owned a summer villa.

Malhoa is acclaimed for his genre paintings, portraits and landscapes, imbued with a uniquely Portuguese realism. Together with Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro he was the leading proponent of Naturalist painting in Portugal in the late nineteenth century, and paved the way for the evolution of Portuguese modernism.

Malhoa attended the Academia de Belas-Artes in Lisbon where he studied under Tomás José da Anunciação and Miguel Ângelo Lupi. While exposed to the Barbizon-influenced style of António Silva Porto, his compatriot in the Grupo do Leão (1881–9), Malhoa developed his own form of Realist-Naturalism.