Raimundo de Madrazo

La Granja Gallery, Mexico City
Jorge Espinosa Ulloa (acquired from the above)
Angel Cristóbal Gallery, Mexico
Private Collection, USA (acquired from the above in 1976)

New Mexico, Albuquerque Museum; Dallas, Meadows Museum: Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso, 2005-6, no. 13, illustrated in the catalogue
Dallas, Meadows Museum (on loan 2004-2011)

This painting has been recently restored and should be hung as is. The canvas has been lined with Beva-371. The paint layer is stable and well textured. There are essentially no restorations to the figure. Under ultra-violet light there are a few spots of retouch which have been applied in the shadowed area of the pillow in the back of the chair to the left of her head, in the background along the top edge, and immediately to the right of the sitter's forehead. There is an uneven varnish over the signature, and it is possible that some elements of it may have been strengthened. The painting is generally in very good and very fresh condition, and the colours are fairly accurate in the illustration.
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Representing the third generation of Spain's most enduring dynasty of artists begun by his grandfather José and his father Federico, Raimundo de Madrazo was the most distinguished figure of the 'Spanish School' in Paris. Settling there in 1862, Madrazo specialised in female portraiture, with the sitter often placed in a refined and exquisite setting. In the present work, Aline Mason, his favourite model and daughter of the concierge at the Marquis of Casa Riera palace in Paris, is captured perusing an album of  photographs, their black and white profile contrasting with the rich colours of Aline's dress.

The influence of his close friend and brother-in-law, Mariano Fortuny, is clearly evident in this work in the wealth of detail and mastery of colour and texture, from Aline's porcelain skin to the rendering of white and the vibrancy of the background. 'Madrazo's portraiture is of that accomplished order that raises it to eminence; grace and fine drawing, colour and strength, are seen united to enable depiction of character, and his works present an air of completion in which refinement and vivacity are noticeable attributes' (Alfred George Temple, Modern Spanish Paintings, London, 1906, p. 60).