Juan Antonio Gamazo Abarca, conde de Gamazo [Juan Antonio Gamazo Abarca, Count of Gamazo]
- 1930
- Oil on canvas
- 130 x 97 cm
- Cat. P_175
- Comissioned from the artist in 1930
Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor painted this portrait of Juan Antonio Gamazo Abarca in Paris, when both sitter and painter were in the French capital after the advent of the Second Republic. The fact that the portrait was produced far from the post and from Madrid could explain the surprising decision to place the Count of Gamazo seated next to a balustrade, behind which the trees of the Paseo del Prado and the recognisable frontage of the Banco de España can be seen. Even though the composition is contrived, the position of the sitter is plausible, as the sitter, wearing a tailcoat, seems to be at one of the balustrades of the Linares Palace, on the other side of Plaza de Cibeles. The balustrades supporting the sill on which he is resting his right arm are, in fact, similar to those along the frontage of the building that now houses the Casa de América. Gamazo and Álvarez de Sotomayor, sitter and artist, shared a certain ideological affinity about the monarchy: the former was a supporter of King Alfonso XIII during his exile and of the Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona under Franco, while the latter produced one of the last portraits of Alfonso XII. The whereabouts of this painting are unknown. It dates from 1940, a year prior to the king’s death in Rome.The Museo del Prado has a study of the king’s head which may have been a preparatory drawing for that portrait of the monarch in exile.
Governor of the Banco de España 1930
Gamazo Abarca was the son of Germán Gamazo, a Liberal Party politician who held the Development & Overseas and Finance portfolios in Sagasta’s government. He inherited large swathes of agricultural land around Boecillo (Valladolid). He studied law in Madrid and extended his studies in Germany and Deusto. In June 1909 he was given the title of Count of Gamazo, and the titles of Marques of Soto de Aller and Viscount of Miravalles were bestowed on him in 1952.
As a Maurist Conservative, he was a member of the Spanish Parliament from 1909 to 1923 for different districts of Valladolid and Under-Secretary for Grace and Justice in 1919. A member of the General Board of the Banco de España from 1922 onwards, he was appointed Governor in 1930 during General Berenguer’s government, when Manuel Argüelles was Minister of Finance. The goal of the monetary authorities was to ensure a stable peseta exchange rate, and the unstoppable depreciation of the currency led Gamazo Abarca to resign in August of that same year. He was also a member of the Bank’s General Board during the following periods: in 1935, during the Spanish Civil War in the National area (Burgos) between 1937 and 1939, and, once the war had ended, from 1940 to 1947 and from 1952 to 1958.
During the Second Republic, he was a founding member of the Acción Española cultural association and of Spanish Renovation, a political party that he represented when he was elected to the Spanish parliament in 1936. An ardent royalist, he helped Alfonso XIII in exile and under Franco he supported the Count of Barcelona by promoting cultural institutions of a royalist bent. He was also a businessman linked to industrial transformation and financial groups and companies such as the Compañía General del Corcho, Compañía de Tabacos de Filipinas, Banco Hispano Colonial, Ferrocarriles Andaluces and Compañía Hispano-Americana de Electricidad (CHADE).
Other works by Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor