Ignacio Zuloaga

Bernheim Jeune, Paris
Sale: Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 16 - 22 June 1959, lot 1914
The Hammer Galleries (1962-64)
Private Collection, Paris

Prague, Fine Arts Unit (Krasoumná jednota), 1905 (as Gipsy Reading the Cards)

Le Figaro Illustré, August 1903, p. 21 (as Gipsy et Andaluce)
Enrique Lafuente Ferrari, Vida y obra de Ignacio Zuloaga, Barcelona, 1994, no. 160 (as Gipsy Reading the Cards)
Pavel Stepanek, Ignacio Zuloaga: representante de la Generación del 98 y su recepción en el medioambiente checo en los primeros años del S. XX. Real Academia Catalana de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi, Barcelona 2001, p. 126, mentioned
Archivo Español de Arte, 2003, LXXVI (301), pp. 47 & 53, mentioned

Original canvas. There is a green-ish discoloured varnish overall. Apart from four spots of retouching lower right, a c. 5cm horizontal retouched puncture lower left, and a c. 3cm T shaped horizontal retouching (patched from the reverse) in the sky top right, the work is in good condition.
"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."

It was Zuloaga's return to Seville in 1902 after an absence of five years that inspired the present composition. In it Zuloaga captures the ruddy complexion of a gypsy fortune teller dressed in a richly patterned Manila shawl leaning theatrically across a table as she holds forth the golden ace, the card which according to tradition yields the greatest fortune. The recipient of the good news, an elegant lady, sits demurely in profile before her.

The composition's sense of drama is palpable, but in the gypsy's glinting eyes and frozen smile the frisson of deception hovers over all, a deception in which the artist appears to be complicit. Contrivance is evident in the fading sunset in the background and the fur hand warmer in which the lady's hands are wrapped. On closer examination it becomes clear that the sky is a pastiche, part of another canvas by Zuloaga which serves as a backdrop to the figures. Almost certainly staged in the artist's studio, it is left to the viewer to conjecture the purpose of the fur muff.

Zuloaga visited Seville for the first time in 1893 where he rented a studio in a large building inhabited by gypsy families. The experience sparked Zuloaga's enthusiasm for flamenco and the gypsy universe. He learnt caló, the gypsy patois, and took up bullfighting, enrolling in the school of Maestro Carmona. When not in Spain Zuloaga was in Paris. He had been sent to boarding school in France as a boy, and had returned as an art student in 1889 to study at the atelier of Eugène Carrière. There he developed a wide and influential group of Parisian friends and acquaintances, including Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin and Auguste Rodin. In the ensuing years he lived between Seville and Paris, his work evolving from his early interest in the Impressionists towards a strong admiration for the drama of the Spanish masters and the quixotic mystery of the Andalusian world.

Zuloaga's interest in gypsies remained with him thoughout his life. The writer Julio Camba once remarked how on a journey between Madrid and Bilbao the artist unhesitatingly left the road upon seeing a gypsy caravan that had made camp. After speaking for a short time with the painter, the leader of the gypsies approached Camba and asked: 'who is that gentleman that looks like a government minister? And how does he know to speak Caló?' The writer promptly answered him: 'He is the King of the gypsies in Bilbao'. From the gypsy community too Zuloaga developed superstitions. To defend himself from ill-will he adopted the custom of carrying in his pockets amulets of welded silver fishes. He also had a propensity for knocking on wood, for which he habitually carried a light walking stick.   

Zuloaga completed another oil painting the following year that features the same figures of the gypsy woman and the lady in a rather more conventional composition.