Gustavo Londeix
08/17/2021 1:32 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 08/17/2021 1:34 PM
Two commemorative dates intersect.
On August 17, the day that in 1850 records the death of General José de San Martín and on May 25, 2021, the day of the Revolution that led to the independence of Argentina six years later.
But where do these two dates so expensive for the heart of the country intersect?
In an unexpected place and with an unexpected character.
A Peruvian art collector was walking through the streets of Paris a month ago, in the Opera district and did not enter an emblem of the neighborhood such as the famous Lafayette galleries, but instead entered
the number 3 Rue de Provence.
There you will find the
Baron Ribeyre & Associés
art gallery
.
He looked at the works on display and almost fell in astonishment when he came across a portrait of a famous man from history.
He had to look and re-examine the painting because the image was not similar to the other
five known portraits of him.
The Baron Ribeyre & Associés art gallery.
But the writing at the top of the painting left no doubts: the man portrayed was
José de San Martín.
The Peruvian historian Juan Luis Orrego Penagos was the man who discovered this story and captured it in an article in the
Peruvian
newspaper
El Comercio
, but let's follow the fascinating course of this painting, which
has a price and should be bought by the government right now. Argentinian.
The portraits of Saint Martin
It is believed that there are several portraits of Saint Martin but of his own free will he
posed 5 times
(others say 8).
Of the five that are known, four are artistic and one "photographic".
According to Orrego Penagos, among the first are those of José Gil de Castro (1818), Jean-Henri Simon (1824, a numismatic piece), Jean-Joseph Navez (around 1824) and the one attributed to Jean Baptiste Madou (around 1828 ).
The "photographic" is the 1848 daguerreotype,
captured in Paris, shortly before his death.
With the exception of Simon's medal, the other portraits are part of the collection of the National Historical Museum of Buenos Aires.
The new known portrait of San Martín.
The new portrait found in the streets of Paris is an
oil painting measuring 40.5 x 32 centimeters.
It is in excellent condition except for a scraping on the right forearm from the general's coat.
The question is when was it painted?
It is believed that it took place in Belgium, where San Martín lived between 1824 and 1831. According to the site of the Argentine embassy in that country, San Martín ended up in Brussels at the end of 1824 with the idea of staying there for a few years to finish his education. of his little daughter and to get away from the anarchy and political instability that until then reigned in the Río de La Plata.
Life in brussels
The Liberator was 46 years old, came from London, and settled in Brussels, in
a hotel far from the center.
His daughter Mercedes was placed in a boarding house run by a British teacher who taught French, English and other subjects.
At that time Brussels had 100,000 inhabitants and was recognized as a haven for countless intellectuals, including the famous French painter
Jacques-Louis David,
an iconic author of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire.
San Martín himself met David at a social gathering.
It is known that in Brussels, Saint Martin, who led a very austere life,
frequented the De l'Amitié and Royal cafes
and did not stop paying attention to what was happening in America.
His correspondence with Bernardo O'Higgins was daily and the newspapers he read in Europe informed him of the victory of the patriot army under the command of Antonio José de Sucre, in Ayacucho.
He also suffered deep pain when he learned of the death of a friend such as Bernardo de Monteagudo, who died in Lima on January 28, 1825.
The name at the top of the portrait leaves no doubt.
Some time later, San Martín left the hotel and moved with his brother and a maid to a house on Rue de la Fiancée 1422, according to the historian Orrego Penagos.
Every weekend he
spent with his daughter
who was still studying at boarding school.
The greatest hero in Argentine history had a weakness:
riding with his friends
through the fields of Waterloo.
But his rheumatic pains did not stop and despite taking laudanum, he often resorted to the
thermal baths
at Elissen-Brunnen in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), the ancient capital of Charlemagne.
Towards the end of 1828, he returned to Buenos Aires, but for a short time.
The political situation led him back to Europe and, after a visit to England and France, he returned to Brussels in September 1829.
The lost portrait
San Martín, as we have seen, rarely allowed himself to be portrayed.
Despite the fact that in Europe he was
a famous character
for his epic military campaigns and that he was presented as Generalissimo of Peru, Captain General of the Republic of Chile and General of the United Provinces of South America, there was never a time gap to be painted.
It bothered him to be in the pose for hours.
But the table now found shows that he did it during his stay in Belgium.
The portrait would have been painted
in the mid-1820s, with a Saint Martin in his late fifties.
The new portrait is an oil painting measuring 40.5 x 32 centimeters.
Almost in profile, dressed in a frock coat, vest and shirt in the empire style.
A bourgeois costume that was imposed since 1800.
But his face seems unknown with other portraits that are known of him or with the image that they
showed us at school.
But it is José de San Martín.
The features of his face coincide with the painting "Saint Martin" by the Belgian painter François Bouchot, made in 1828, and which today hangs in the Museum of the United States Military Academy, in
West Point,
New York.
Final point?
One question remains unanswered
, who painted this painting of which there was no news?
The same is hanging in an art store in a little street in Paris.
And here is the link with the second commemorative date: May 25.
The portrait of Saint Martin for sale in Paris.
That day, but in 2021,
the painting was put up for sale.
Not only for its artistic value but for the enormous historical and sentimental content, it should not be in a private collection but should be seen by all Argentines.
Its sale price is
1,920 euros or 2,300 dollars
at the exchange rate.
Money that is well worth this portrait of the greatest Argentine hero.
A man who is priceless.
Sources: Juan Luis Orrego Penagos and Diario El Comercio, from Peru.
GML