Lot 39
  • 39

SANTIAGO RUSIÑOL | El jardín de la bailarina, Granada (The Bailarina Garden, Granada)

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Santiago Rusiñol
  • El jardín de la bailarina, Granada (The Bailarina Garden, Granada)
  • signed S. Rusiñol lower right
  • oil on canvas
  • 70 by 91.5cm., 27½ by 36in.

Provenance

Private collection, Barcelona
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1998

Exhibited

Granada, Saló del diari El Defensor de Granada (as Glorieta a pleno sol (Casería de la Bailarina)), 1898
Paris, Galérie L' Art Nouveau, Les Jardins d'Espagne de Santiago Rusiñol, 1899, no. 10 (as Jardin jaune (Grenade))
Barcelona, Sala Parés, Santiago Rusiñol. Jardins d'Espanya, 1900
Barcelona, Museu del Modernisme, Santiago Rusiñol, Jardins d´Espanya, 2017, illustrated in the catalogue
 

Literature

'Exposicion Rusiñol', in El Defensor de Granada, 13 May 1898, p. 2
Nicolás María López, 'Rusiñol', Defensor de Granada, 14 May 1898, illustrated on the cover
D.M., 'El Arte. Exposición Rusiñol', in El Defensor de Granada, 15 May 1898, illustrated on the cover
Santiago Rusiñol, Jardins d’Espanya, Barcelona, 1903, illustrated (as Glorieta i boixos)
Santiago Rusiñol, Jardines de España, 1944, fig. 12, illustrated (as Glorieta de bojes/ Glorieta y boixos (Granada))
Ilustració Catalana, 20 December 1903, Barcelona, p. 366, illustrated (as Glorieta y boxos (Granada))
Josep de Calassanç Laplana, Santiago Rusiñol, el pintor, l'home, Montserrat, 1995, no. 16.19 (as Glorieta i boixos)
Josep de Calassanç Laplana & Mercedes Palau-Ribes O'Callaghan, La pintura de Santiago Rusiñol. Obra completa. Vol. III: Catàleg sistemàtic, Barcelona, 2004, p. 162, no. 16.2.6 (as Glorieta i boixos)

Condition

The canvas has not been lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher which appears to be of the time. Faint, horizontal stretcher marks, corresponding to the upper and lower stretcher members, are visible. Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals clusters of small spots of cosmetic retouching, which all appears to be addressing old paint flaking, in the far lower left corner, along the upper framing edge, and in the sky above the topiary. Some other small spots are also visible in the ground towards the centre of the lower framing edge. Otherwise, this work in overall in good condition and is ready to hang. Presented in a green, wooden frame.
"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."

Catalogue Note

Painted in 1898, the present work depicts the Casería de Buena Vista - also known as the Casería de la Bailarina - the childhood home of the famous Spanish dancer Pepita Duran y Ortega, grandmother of the English author and garden designer Vita Sackville-West. Its garden was dominated by an ornate form of cypress topiary known as a bailarina, consisting of several cypress trees in a circle, joined at the crown to resemble a gothic cupola reminiscent of Moorish architecture. These structures, which became emblematic of Rusiñol's garden paintings, inspired his friend and fellow artist Pablo Picasso for a print in the first issue of the modernist art review Arte Joven in 1901 (fig. 1). The bailarina also appears in Picasso’s Pareja en un Jardin, 1901 (fig. 2).  Wherever he travelled in Spain - whether to Granada, Mallorca, or La Granja - Rusiñol fell under the spell of plants and trees variously shaped by human hand, drawn to them as expressions of the traditions of the regions of Spain but also by their enigmatic forms. In 1903 he published an album of prints titled Jardins d’Espanya, combining prints of most of the works exhibited at the eponymous 1899 Paris exhibition with modernist poems by some of the most acclaimed poets of the time. His thoughts on the garden are most lyrically articulated in his elegiac poem El jardí abandonat of 1899, in which the garden comes to symbolise both Spain's proud past and its fading glory following its defeat in the 1898 Spanish–American War.