Leticia Bosch-Labrús, duchess of Dúrcal
1911. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
This is a portrait of Leticia Bosch-Labrús (Madrid, 29 September 1881). She married Fernando Sebastián de Borbón, Duke of Dúrcal in 1910. They had two daughters: María Cristina (P007881) and Leticia.
During his life and his career, he travelled several times throughout Europe. One of his trips was to Paris, where he kept a studio for almost two years during which time he spent long periods there. Beginning in 1910, his was quite prolific. In this painting, the artist has seemingly reached his full maturity, and his previous experiences had finally settled. These are paintings of an outstanding technical skill, which echoed in the artists of that time. In 1912, Aureliano Berruete would write about them in an article for the journal Museum: ‘[…] his works are a demonstration of the painter’s endeavours following a new, simplified technique; at least it appears so. This comes from light glazing over the whiteness of the canvas, well preserving the strong drawing whilst seeking to draw out the figure’s character. It is noticeable that this is his concern, the driving force behind what we could call the painter’s new and recent style’. His portraits share a common feature: they are painted from life and with their models posing. This was relatively commonplace during his time, but it would become infrequent a few years later due to the use of photography.
Masiá González, Pascual, Manuel Benedito en la Academia. Catálogo de exposición, Madrid, Fundación Manuel Benedito, 2013, p.14, 41
