Background: Collecting and Growing Interest in Spanish Masters
Since ancient times, men have sought to possess objects and works of art considered of great value. Wars have been linked throughout history with the looting and plundering of defeated enemies. In the context of Napoleonic wars, this plunder was a systematic large-scale operation in which artworks and heritage from all invaded countries were traded. This collecting fervor is closely tied to an enlightened ideal, in which France saw itself as the sole valid custodian of humanity's treasures and as the center of the world: they wanted to create in Napoleon's Museum (Louvre Museum) The most beautiful museum in the world.
Before reaching this point, it must be understood that throughout the 18th century, art collecting by nobles and bourgeoisie became popular. The preferred pieces were those of ancient Italian and Flemish masters. A thriving art trade emerged along with new professions such as experts and dealers. Alongside Italians and Flemish, during this period there was a rediscovery of Spanish masters.
In Spain, ambassadors from foreign courts and merchants showed increasing interest in Spanish painting, and did not hesitate to form their own collections. Thus began the recognition and appreciation of painters from the Spanish pictorial school, among whom stands out the Sevillian Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. No other Spanish painter had achieved greater fame during his lifetime, as his delicate paintings and naturalism perfectly matched the taste of his contemporaries and subsequent generations. Among Baroque painters, he was one of the most praised by scholars such as Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, who judged his work under a neoclassical perspective that favored classicism over naturalism, thereby reinforcing it against other contemporaries. In 1806, Ceán published in Cádiz the Letter to a Friend on Style and Taste in Sevillian School Painting, addressed to his friend Melchor Gaspar de Jovellanos, in which he dedicates special attention to the paintings of this Hispalense artist within the Spanish school.
In the last decades of the 18th century, the popularity of the Baroque master abroad was more than evident. The collections of French sculptor Edmé Bouchardon, Duke of Choiseul, Duke of Tallard, and Marquis de Vaudreuil included paintings by Murillo. Between the years 1770 and 1776, some works by Murillo such as The Wedding at Cana, The Holy Family or The Good Shepherd Child and Saint John, were sold to various French and English collections. British consuls in Spain did not stop sending paintings of the Sevillian author back home. To illustrate this taste that developed among the British for Murillo, Charles B. Curtis, cited by Francisco Fernández Pardo in his work The Dispersal and Destruction of Spanish Artistic Heritage, says: England boasts 220 paintings by Murillo, while Spain only has 128, France 28, Russia 24, Germany 10, Austria-Hungary 6, Italy 6, the United States 7, Holland 3, Sweden 2, and 47 are in unknown whereabouts (Fernández Pardo, 2007, p. 62).
The sale of paintings by Spanish masters was beginning to be massified and escape any control. The Spanish painting that was once only appreciated by a minority was auctioned off and sold without often being aware of its value. It was precisely the fashion among foreigners in acquiring Murillo's paintings that prompted the drafting of what is called Real Order of HM of October 5, 1779 (Fig. 1), prohibiting the extraction of paintings by painters no longer alive for foreign countries, perhaps the first law protecting heritage against plundering and smuggling promulgated in Spain. Issued by Count Floridablanca on order of King Charles III, this Real Order mandated customs and border officials to seize all paintings by deceased artists that were being taken out of the country. This protection order was complemented with the Circular Royal Order of October 16, 1779, which prohibited exporting books, paintings, manuscripts, and antiques without authorization.
Thus we arrive at the 19th century. A torturous century that in its early years left Spain a devastated landscape. Napoleon's troops entered Spain to stay, under the pretext of invading Portugal, supplanting all local authority. What was supposed to be an allied maneuver turned into occupation.
In the years leading up to the war, the business of art speculation flourished. In 1801 the law that sanctioned the exportation of artistic goods from deceased artists was reproduced again, seeing little or no success at the time and continuing to lack it. As an example, Madrid painter and dealer Juan de Aguirre maintained contact with French ambassador Luciano Bonaparte, to whom he sold over seventy paintings, including The Immaculate Conception from El Escorial and The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, both by Murillo, The Lady with a Fan by Velázquez (Fig. 2) and The Descent by Pedro de Campaña (currently in the Fabre Museum of Montpellier). (Méndez Rodríguez, 2017, p. 599).
During this period certain books were published whose intention was to show the richness of Spanish heritage, and which were later used as authentic guides by many Napoleonic generals and other interested parties, to locate with certainty many works of art and plan their transfer. These books were essentially three: A Journey to Spain by Antonio Ponz (1772-1794), Diccionario Histórico de los más ilustres profesores de Bellas Artes en España (Historical Dictionary of the Most Illustrious Professors of Fine Arts in Spain) by Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez (1800), and An Artistic Journey to Several Towns in Spain by Isidoro Bosarte (1804).
In 1807, numerous foreign art dealers were found in Spanish territory, interested in buying Spanish art following the French troops, which opened up new business opportunities for them. One of these was British painter and dealer George A. Wallis, an agent sent by merchant and writer William Buchanam. Wallis arrived in Madrid just in time to witness the bloody May 2nd, 1808. On the French side was painter and art collector Jean Baptiste Pierre Lebrun, who rediscovered and admired Baroque Andalusian painters such as Zurbarán or the already mentioned Murillo. His appointment as a member of the Royal Academy of San Carlos in Valencia greatly facilitated his task of taking works out of the country. He toured Seville's capital alongside Ceán Bermúdez. The French dealer Frédéric Quilliet, based in Cádiz since the reign of Charles IV, had been studying Spanish royal collections and also accompanied Lebrun and Ceán on their journey through Andalusia. It is known that William Gordon Coesvelt from Holland acquired paintings to sell them to Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
In 1807 Napoleon decided to depose the Spanish monarchy, allied with him until then, and turned Spain into a satellite state governed by his brother Joseph Bonaparte. It was during this period that the greatest exodus of works of art that our country has experienced in its history took place. The great diaspora of Spanish heritage occurred. We will treat subsequent events with more detail in the next article.
Bibliography
Cera, M. (2021). Real Order of HM of October 5, 1779, prohibiting the extraction of paintings by painters no longer alive for foreign countries. Scriptorium Artis.Real Order of HM of October 5, 1779, prohibiting the extraction of paintings by Pintores already deceased, for foreign countries – Scriptorium Artis
Crespo Delgado, D. (2018). Murillo in the literature of the Enlightenment. Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo: Revista Digital del Grupo de Estudios del Siglo XVIII, 24, 557-596. https://doi.org/jz8r
Fernández Pardo, F. (2007). The Disappeared Museum: The Dispersion and Destruction of Spanish Artistic Heritage, Volume V (1808-1814), The War of Independence. Fundación Universitaria Española.
Gaya Nuño, J. A. (1958). Spanish Painting Outside Spain. Espasa-Calpe.
Hempel Lipschutz, I. (1961). The plundering of works of art in Spain during the War of Independence. Arte Español. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Amigos del Arte. XXIII, 235-271. https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/artespSEAA/artespSEAA_a1961v44t23n3.pdf Hempel Lipschutz, I. (1988). Spanish Painting and French Romantics. Taurus.
Hempel Lipschutz, I. (1988). La pintura española y los románticos franceses. Taurus.
Méndez Rodríguez, L. (2017). The taste for Murillo in the 19th century: purchases, sales and dealers of paintings. In A. E. Pérez Sánchez & F. J. Sánchez Cantonero (Eds.), Collecting, Patronage and Artistic Market in Spain and Iberoamerica: First International Conference of Young Researchers (pp. 588-610). Universidad de Sevilla, Secretariado de Recursos Audiovisuales y Nuevas Tecnologías. https://idus.us.es/handle/11441/90944 Querol, M. A. (2010). Manual of Cultural Heritage Management. Akal.
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