José de las Bárcenas y Bringas
1890. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
José de las Bárcenas y Bringas, who died in Madrid in 1901, was the son of José de las Bárcenas and María Micaela Bringas. In 1889, he married Juana María de la Gloria Tomás Salvany, legatee of the portrait, and daughter of Tomás Salvany and Gabina Talledo. They had four children, José, María, Gloria and Gabina. They lived in Madrid from at least 1893.
This is a bust-length portrait. The figure, who is about thirty-five, poses against a neutral background. The artist depicts him with a sharp face and a bushy beard, wearing a black frock coat and a grey satin tie with a wide knot. Federico de Madrazo had friendship with the portrayed wife, Gloria Salvany, to whom he dedicated the painting. Madrazo witnessed the couple´s proposal and began the portrait shortly after the ceremony took place in March 1890. This portrait may therefore have been his wedding gift to the new bride. However, for unknown reasons, he ssuspended work on it until December of the same year and did not finish it until 1891. However, Madrazo must not have been satisfied with the result, as he devoted two more sessions to the portrait in April 1891. This is one of the most interesting male portraits of the artist´s last years, as it splendidly depicts the degree of synthesis and fluidity achieved by Federico de Madrazo at the age of seventy-five. He uses an extremely sober chromatic range and a soft, fluffy technique, based on direct brushstrokes, which blurs the contours and gives a special and attractive pictorial richness to the background. This technique was probably also influenced by problems with the elderly master’s sight.
Díez, José Luis, Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1815-1894), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1994, p.356 nº;90 470-471 nº225
