Ramon Casas

LOT 187 PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR RAMÓN CASAS SPANISH, 1866 - 1932 RETRATO DE EDUARDO NIETO, EL MARQUÉS DE VILLAMIZAR (EDUARDO NIETO,KNOWN AS THE MARQUIS OF VILLAMIZAR) 200,000—300,000 GBP measurements 135 by 75cm., 53 by 29½in. Description signed R. Casas lower right oil on canvas PROVENANCE Private collection, SpainAcquired from the above by the present owner in 1988 EXHIBITED Barcelona, Sala Parés, Primera Exposició Ramón Casas,organitzada per 'Pèl & Ploma', 1899, no. 12Barcelona, Sala Parés, Homenatge a Ramón Casas 1866-1932 amb motiudel 50è aniversari de la seva mort, 1982, no. 29 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Alfonso Alcolea Albero, Ramón Casas, Barcelona, 1990, p. 173,listed & illustratedIsabel Coll, Ramón Casas, Catálogo Razonado, 2002, p. 45, a detailillustrated; p. 226, illustratedMuseu Nacional d'art de Catalunya, Barcelona; Fundación CulturalMapfre Vida, Madrid, Ramón Casas. El pintor del modernismo, exh.cat., 2001, p. 267, illustrated CATALOGUE NOTE Painted circa 1892-94, the sitter for the present work wasEduardo Nieto, Casas' brother-in-law, sometimes referred to by thetitle of his father, the Marquis of Villamizar. Casas' elegantdepiction of his in-law standing in a courtyard in the Casas familyhome exhibits the high regard the artist felt towards hissubject.During the mid-1890s Casas was in particular demand for hislikenesses, painting the intellectual, economic and political eliteof Barcelona, Paris, Madrid and beyond. As John Richardson writes:'Casas delighted the bourgeoisie with portraits that could be asfashionable or informal as the sitter required; and he delightedthe general public with the boldness of his posters and (later) thejoie de vivre of his decorations for Els Quatres Gats' (JohnRichardson, A Life of Picasso, vol. I, 1881-1906, London, 1991, p.115). It was during the 1890s that Casas shared a flat in Paris withSantiago Rusiñol near the Moulin de la Galette, and exhibited inBarcelona with both Rusiñol and Enric Clarasó. During these keyyears too he also embarked on some of his most politically chargedand complex multi-figural compositions, in particular Garrote Vilin 1894 and Embarque de tropas in 1896. Private collection, SpainAcquired from the above by the present owner in 1988