Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Baile andaluz con emparrado [Andalusian Dance with Bower]

Image caption
JOSÉ VILLEGAS Y CORDERO

Baile andaluz con emparrado [Andalusian Dance with Bower]

  • 1890
  • Oil on panel
  • 32 x 23,3 cm
  • Cat. P_117
  • Acquired in 1975
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso, Carlos Martín

He was a versatile painter, although he resisted the renewal movements that steadily gained ground in the 20th century on the legacy of 19th-century painting. Throughout his life, he was interested in oriental art, much in the line of Fortuny, and in Costumbrist themes, as can be seen in the oil on board Andalusian Dance with Bower. The two watercolours in the collection show a very loose technique and reveal his approach to casacón or genre painting, which brought 18th-century aesthetics to the late 19th century. Mention should also be made of his historical painting and his formal and society portraits, in which he clearly excelled, as can be seen in his portrait of King Alfonso XIII (1902) in the Banco de España Collection.

 
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso , Carlos Martín
José Villegas y Cordero
Seville 1844 - Madrid 1921

A student of José Romero and of Eduardo Cano in Seville, José Villegas y Cordero worked as a copyist in the Museo del Prado in Madrid and trained at the studio of Federico de Madrazo thanks to the support of his parents. When he was twenty he moved to Rome, where he spent long periods of time in contact with masters of his generation including Fortuny, Pradilla and Rosales. In the Italian capital, he moved around from studio to studio and place to place, until his commercial success enabled him to build a luxurious house in the Hispanic-Muslim style in 1887. This house became an important inner sanctum for the artistic circles and Roman society of that time. In 1888 he was appointed director of the Spanish Academy in Rome, and from 1901 to 1918 was the Director of the Prado, where he organised the institution’s first monographic exhibitions on El Greco (1902) and Zurbarán (1905).

Villegas y Cordero continued to paint after leaving the Prado in early 1921, but the accounts of the time report that he withdrew from society and was afflicted by a progressive loss of sight. He died in Madrid on 10 November of that year.

 
«José Villegas y Cordero (1844-1 921)» (Seville, 2001). «José Villegas y Cordero (1844-1 921)» (Cordoba, 2001).
José Artal Arte Moderno. Escuela Español. Villegas, Buenos Aires, 1900, vol. II. Hermanos Álvarez Quintero Homenaje a Villegas, «Prólogo», Madrid, 1919. Vv.Aa. Exposición de pinturas de José Villegas, Madrid, Academia de San Fernando, 1922. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez & Julián Gállego Banco de España. Colección de pintura, Madrid, Banco de España, 1985. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Julián Gállego & María José Alonso Colección de pintura del Banco de España, Madrid, Banco de España, 1988. Ángel Castro Martín Vida y obra de José Villegas Cordero (1844-1921), Seville & Cordoba, Caja Sur, 2001. Ángel Castro Martín José Villegas. Retrospectiva (1844-1921), Zaragoza, Ibercaja, 2005. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 1.