Fernando Botero (b. 1932)

Marlborough Gallery, New York

Giorgio Soavi, Botero, Milan, 1988, no. 77, p. 105, illustrated in color
Marcel Paquet. Botero: Philosophy of the Creative Act. New York, 1992, no. 91, p. 115, illustrated in color

This work was examined under glass. There is a small, roughly half inch, scratch to the lower left side of the jacket just to the right of the button slits. There is a possible loss to the breast of the eagle. Overall, this work is in excellent 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

It can be said that Fernando Botero's principal subjects have alternated between a reinterpretation of old masters and a celebration of common people lives in contemporary Colombia, his home country.  Botero studied  at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid and often visited the classics at the Prado and after he moved to Paris, at the Louvre . He soon exhibited a natural inclination to explore and seriously study, may be like no other artist in his generation, the compositions by Vermeer, Velazquez, Della Francesca, Ingres, Rubens, Van Gogh among others. A well-known example related –as in El Presidente- with images of political power, is his re-editing of the Royal portrait of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) at the Louvre: Botero added a dwarfed self-portrait standing at the feet of the towering image as if posing for a souvenir museum snapshot.

The job of court painters is to portray royalty and nobility. In the Spanish tradition, there is a special attention given to portraiture and it is necessary to mention here two of the most revolutionary paintings in the History of art, obviously Velazquez's Meninas (1656) and Charles IV of Spain and His Family (1800) in which Francisco de Goya unmercifully portrayed the royals- as contemporary writer Theophile Gautier noted- looking like "the corner baker and his wife after they won the lottery". Single figure official portraits entered the palace collections while a number of copies were sent to represent the head of the State across the peninsula and the colonies. These images were treated with most respect and their installation in the provincial capitals was a cause for celebration: the image of the king was the ultimate representation of metropolitan power.

Fernando Botero has executed a significant number of works to depict and criticize people holding power in the southern part of the continent. Bishops, Army Generals, Dictators, Presidents, their wives and families are consistently ridiculed as he cartoons, dwarfs, enlarges and makes them pose in unlikely small rooms adorned with a satirical collection of exhausted symbols. Such is the case in El Presidente.

In the spirit of the Goya portraits, Botero describes a Head of State dressed and posing for posterity. Instead of the self-confident man the viewer is expected to admire, we are looking at the "corner baker," properly dressed, decorated with the presidential band and medals for battles or merits he probably never won. His hand rests on his office desk by an old style scrawled order and a globe showing South America under the protection of a helpless eagle too fat to take the air. A single fly spoils the dignity of the Presidente and also suggests an annoying sound element to the scene. However ridiculed, there is a lot of humanity in this Presidente and other figures representing privilege. While the artist exposes their role in the social farce he still treats his subjects with a clement eye which derives from his indulgent understanding of the human condition. Finally, the warmth and lively quality of this figure is undoubtedly enhanced by the masterful use of oil pastels. Pastel is traditionally associated with works on paper of much smaller proportions. In his early large pastels – and it could be said that El Presidente is perhaps the artist's quintessential achievement in the genre-  Botero's contributes to the revitalization of  a technique traditionally associated to Old Masters and the 19 century painters.