Hermenegildo Anglada-Camarasa

Private Collection, France

The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar Ltd, 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, London SW1Y 6BU: Structural Condition The artist's panel is providing a stable structural support. There is a slight concavity in the panel which corresponds to a repaired horizontal split running the length of the panel. This is approximately 21 cm above the lower horizontal framing edge and is entirely stable. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. There are scattered areas of drying craquelure, including within the pale green figure in the lower left quadrant of the composition, and within the very dark pigments above the lower horizontal framing edge. These are stable and are attributable to the natural drying processes of the artist's materials. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a discoloured and degraded varnish layer which prevents the ultra-violet light from fully penetrating. Inspection under ultra-violet also shows scattered retouchings, including: 1) vertical lines of retouching and associated scattered spots corresponding to the trees in the upper part of the composition, 2) an intermittent band of retouching corresponding to the repaired horizontal split mentioned above, 3) an area of retouching with associated spots and lines within the green figure in the lower left quadrant of the composition, and 4) two large areas of retouching with associated spots towards the extreme lower right corner. Other scattered spots of retouching are also visible. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good and stable condition having undergone fairly extensive restoration work in the past.
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Francesc Fontbona and Francesc Miralles date this work to 1898, and thus to Anglada's first extended stay in Paris, between 1897-1904, during which he developed and indulged his taste for the demi-monde in the city.

Typically, Anglada's figures are represented wearing elegant clothes and large hats, their identity steeped in ambiguity. Though ostensibly society women, their shadowy, seductive presence calls to mind the high-class courtisanes who mingled with fashionable society. In the present work, the attention of the spectre-like woman crossing a shadowy park is drawn by an object or person outside the picture plane, adding to the sense of mystery. Anglada's atmospheric, almost eerie nocturne is punctuated only by the bright lights from the brightly lit café-concert in the distance.

Stylistically and ideologically, Anglada was inextricably linked to Catalan Modernismo, in itself a branch of the Art Nouveau currents prevailing in the fine and decorative arts at the turn of the century. Following Anglada's move to Paris in 1894, he abandoned the influence of his teacher at the Llotja School in Barcelona, Modest Urgell, to illustrate fin-de-siècle decadence. Immersing himself, together with the young Picasso, in the music and dance halls and cafés-concerts of Paris, Anglada created elegant and provocative images of modern life.