Lot 99: Rogelio de Egusquiza , Spanish 1845-1915 lady in pink oil on canvas

signed R. Egusquiza (lower left) oil on canvas

measurements 25½ by 21½ in. alternate measurements 65 by 54.5 cm

The Paris studios attracted hundreds of young European and American artists, who flocked to France for an opportunity to study with the French masters. One of Spain's best-known painters was Rogelio de Egusquiza, who exemplified the universality of the French system. Artists from diverse cultures and backgrounds came together in Paris. What resulted in their works was a viewpoint that was inherently French, thus underscoring the influence and authority of the artistic establishment in France in the nineteenth century. Following trips to Paris as a boy, Egusquiza returned to study with Léon Bonnat, taking up residence in the French capital in 1868. A decade later, Egusquiza's studio in the fashionable Faubourg St. Honoré district became a regular meeting place for artists, writers and musicians. Lady in Pink most likely dates from this period. Like his contemporaries, most notably artists such as Alfred Stevens, James Tissot and even Edouard Manet, Egusquiza found his "muse" in the contemporary woman of Paris society. Here, he shows his model in a dress made of the finest pink satin and lace, most likely the latest design from the famed Maison Paquin on the Rue de la Paix. The setting is a well appointed interior of fine French furniture and the requisite Japanese screen. The same type of subject - beautifully dressed women contemplating works of art - was also found in contemporary works by Stevens and Tissot (figs. 1 and 2), again confirming that although these artists were foreign by birth (Belgian, English and Spanish), what resulted was a subject and style that could only have been characterized as French during the Belle Époque.