Hermenigildo Anglada-Camarasa

La Pinacoteca, Barcelona
Private Collection, Barcelona (purchased from the above in 1928)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in the 1990s

The canvas has been relined. Under ultra-violet light there are some pigments which fluoresce but which are apparently the artist's original, notably the lady's lips, and some strokes of possible strengthening to the child's face and hair and some possible minor strokes in the white pigments in the lower left corner and lower part of the woman's dress. This painting is in good condition and ready to hang. The colours in reality are richer and more vivid than in the catalogue illustration. Presented in a decorative gilt Spanish-style frame with a fabric-covered inner slip.
"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."

Painted in 1925, the present work is an outstanding example of Anglada-Camarasa's departure from his early depictions of gitanas as the colourfully exotic denizens of the gaudy music halls and cafés-concerts of Paris. From 1907 Anglada-Camarasa began to paint his gitanas in a softer, more vulnerable light, accompanied by small children. Blossoming, vibrant flowers encircle the figures of mother and child, with a new luminous palette highlighting this allegory of motherhood (fig. 1).

Plaintive yet passionate, earthy yet full of grace, the Spanish gitana has been all but synonymous with Spain since her kinsfolk first landed on Iberia's shores in the fifteenth century from as far afield as India. The Spanish came to revere but also fear gypsies because of their nomadic way of life and the freedoms it seemed to allow. For some three hundred years, they were persecuted, their settlements broken up, their language and rituals denied them. Yet, paradoxically, the hardship they endured nurtured a whole subculture most nobly embodied by dance and the flamenco.

By the nineteenth century, Spain had embraced Gypsy myth and lore. The Romantics were in awe of the gypsies for their otherworldliness and seeming ability to commune with nature, while the following generation of artists and writers, driven by patriotism in the wake of Spain's colonial losses, venerated the gypsy as the quintessential icon of Spanish identity. Nonell, Zuloaga, and Solana were among Anglada's contemporaries who endowed the gitana with a gravitas, at times playful, at times austere, that linked her inextricably with Spain's psyche.