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

Collection

Joaquín Benjumea y Burín, conde de Benjumea [Joaquín Benjumea y Burín, Count of Benjumea]

Image caption
GENARO LAHUERTA

Joaquín Benjumea y Burín, conde de Benjumea [Joaquín Benjumea y Burín, Count of Benjumea]

  • 1953
  • Oil on canvas
  • 130,5 x 97,5 cm
  • Cat. P_176
  • Comissioned from the artist in 1953
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso

This portrait of Joaquín Benjumea y Burín, who served as Governor of the Banco de España for eight years, is considered one of the finest works of Genaro Lahuerta, a member of the Los Ibéricos group of artists. The portrait is featured in the monographic article on the artist written by Antonio Manuel Campoy under the title Vida y obra de Genaro Lahuerta ["Life and Work of Genaro Lahuerta"], where it is placed between portraits of Azorín and Baroja as typical of the painter's 'second period' (1947-1959).  Lahuerta, born in Valencia in 1905, managed to combine fine painting (with high-quality materials and colours based around amber) with a good likeness of the sitter, who is shown simply seated in an easy chair in front of a wall decorated only with a curtain on one side and a fragment of picture frame. The sitter's left hand rests on a copy of the Madrid daily newspaper Ya on one leg, not only showing him as well-informed but also clearly indicating the conservatism of his politics.

Comments updated by Carlos Martín.

 
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso
Genaro Lahuerta
Valencia 1905 - Valencia 1985

Genaro Lahuerta was a full professor at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia and became a member of the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid in 1976. In 1930 he belonged to the Sociedad de Artistas Ibéricos ["Association of Iberian Artists"] along with José Gutierrez Solana, Francisco Mateos, Benjamín Palencia and other. In 1943 he was awarded the second place medal at the National Exhibition for his portrait of his mother, and in 1948 the first place medal for his portrait of the writer Azorín. The Provincial Council of Valencia staged a retrospective of his work in 1987.

 
By:
Paloma Gómez Pastor
Joaquín Benjumea y Burín, Count of Benjumea (Seville 1878 - Madrid 1963)
Governor of the Banco de España 1951 - 1963

He came from an aristocratic Seville family with a history of involvement in politics. He studied mining engineering in Madrid. In 1901 he returned to Seville, where he worked to promote agriculture. At the same time, he was an investor in and a director of several hydroelectric and mining firms, founding Hidroeléctrica Andaluza and restructuring Rio Tinto.

He went into politics at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He was chairman of the management committee that replaced the Republican provincial council of Seville in November 1936, and became Mayor of the city in 1938.  His first post in government was as National Head of the Devastated Regions and Reparations Service. His work there led Serrano Súñer to appoint him as head of the Credit Institute for National Reconstruction in March 1939. In August that same year he was made Minister of Agriculture and also put in charge of the Ministry of Labour. It was under his mandate that the National Institute of Rural Development and Colonisation was set up in December to increase output.

On 20 May 1941 he replaced José Larraz as Treasury Minister. He enacted a restrictive budgetary policy but was unable to contain budget expansion due to persistent inflation, though he did bring about a slow-down in spending from 1946 onwards. He promoted the new Banking Act of 1946, which increased control over the Banco de España. He stepped down following the ministerial crisis of 1951 and was appointed Governor of the Banco de España and Commissioner for Official Banks. He held these posts until his death in 1963.

Paloma Gómez Pastor

 
«El Banco de España. Dos siglos de historia (1782-1982)», Banco de España (Madrid, 1982).
Antonio Manuel Campoy Vida y obra de Genaro Lahuerta, Valencia, Vicent García Editores, 1979. Vv.Aa. El Banco de España. Dos siglos de historia. 1782-1982, Madrid, Banco de España, 1982. 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. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 1.