Portrait of Antonio de Barandiarán - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

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Portrait of Antonio de Barandiarán

Irureta, Pedro Alejandrino

Tolosa, Gipuzkoa), 18/01/1851-San Sebastián, 27/08/1912

Oil on canvas

100.5 x 79.5 cm

A. Irureta (bottom left hand corner)

1902

First decade of the 20th century

02/280

Donated by Jorge de Barandiarán in 2002

  • The Portrait of Antonio de Barandiarán is thus associated with Irureta's two most characteristic activities as a painter of portraits of the local bourgeoisie and as an art teacher. Besides being a leading industrialist, the painting's relaxed subject was also Irureta's disciple. On concluding his studies to become a qualified property registrar, Barandiarán was rewarded by his father with a gap year in Paris, which he took advantage of to continue his training as a painter at the Académie Julian in 1905. The portrait itself makes clear just how much at ease Irureta was in the genre, for which he made use of formulas popularised by Federico de Madrazo, his master in Madrid. His portraits tend towards the monochrome, with the realistically portrayed subject standing out against a neutral background. Irureta suffered some serious misfortune in the last year of his life that finally unhinged him. The death of his closest friend, fellow painter José Echenagusía, proved to be the last straw: the day an exhibition in tribute to his friend was inaugurated, Irureta (who had helped to organize the event) threw himself to his death from a window at his studio. (Mikel Lertxundi)

Selected bibliography

  • . Donostia-San Sebastián, Kutxa Fundazioa = Fundación Kutxa, 2001.
  • De Goya a Gauguin : el siglo XIX en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. pp. 362-363, n° cat. 72.
  • Guía Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. p. 31.
  • Gida Euskal Artistak. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa, 2008. p. 31.
  • Guide Basque Artists. Bilbao, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2012. p. 31, n° cat. 12.