Juan Agustin Ceán Bermúdez, zugeschrieben
Männlicher Kopf, 1770 - 1775
This may be the only drawing in the Hamburg collection that can be attributed with certainty to Enlightenment historian Juan Agustin Ceán Bermúdez, a famous and erudite art writer. José Atanasio Echeverría lists it in his inventory under number 5 of the “Escuela Española as “by D[on] Juan Ceán Bermudez, well known in Spain for his writings on the fine arts; and one of those who contributed to the founding of the Royal Drawing School in the city of Seville."
Ceán Bermúdez was five years younger than his close friend and fellow countryman from Gijón, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, one of the most important politicians of the Spanish Enlightenment and privy counselor to Charles III. In 1768 Ceán Bermúdez accompanied Jovellanos to Seville, where he received instruction in painting from Juan de Espinal, as he mentioned himself in the entry on Espinal in his Diccionario histórico de los más ilustres profesores de las Bellas Artes en España (1800).[1] Along with Francisco de Bruna y Ahumada and other art lovers, Ceán Bermúdez helped found the Academia de las Tres Nobles Artes in Seville, to which Espinal was appointed “First Painter.”[2] It is tempting to assume that this drawing was produced during this Seville sojourn, and that it came into what is now the Hamburg collection as part of the group related to the first years of the second art academy to be founded in Seville. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Herrera the Elder founded the first academy during the seventeenth century. In 1776 Ceán Bermúdez went to Madrid, where he continued his training under Anton Raphael Mengs. Two years later Mengs invited Ceán Bermúdez to accompany him to Rome, but Ceán declined.[3] Instead, he began a close friendship with Francisco de Goya, who was then producing cartoons for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Saint Barbara and etchings after paintings by Diego Velázquez. Most of the preliminary drawings for those etchings ended up in Ceán's possession (see cat. nos. 49–56).[4] A few years later, around 1785, Ceán Bermúdez was portrayed by Goya with book and pencil in his left hand-in other words as a writer, not a painter.[5]
This drawing presents the largest motif of the collection - the head is nearly life-size - and shows some doubts, especially around the ear. Its technique is the most commonly practiced in Seville, with effects produced primarily by swiftly placed hatching whose intensity varies according to the contrasting light and shadows. Finally, a few short strokes mark the line of the profile, eyelashes, and lips. To date, too little research has been devoted to Ceán Bermúdez's drawings and paintings. There is no known painting for which this head could have served as a preliminary drawing.
On the back, another drawing with the same technique depicts the profile of the same head.
Jens Hoffmann-Samland
1 Ceán Bermúdez 1800, 2:23-33.
2 Ibid.
3 According to Corina Stan, “Ceán Bermúdez, Juan Agustin," in Lee Sorensen, ed., www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org (http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/ceanbermudez.htm), accessed Nov. 21, 2013.
4 Drawings with inventory nos. 38535, 38536, 38537, 38538, 38539, 38540, 38543, and 38548
5 This drawing was presented for sale at Tefaf Maastricht (Diego López de Aragón Gallery) in March 2012.