Agustin Esteve

AGUSTÍN ESTEVE (Valencia, 1753 -1820).
"Portrait of a lady", ca. 1800.
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Carlos IV style frame.
Measurements: 71 x 51 cm; 83.5 x 64 cm (frame).

Agustín Esteve, eminent portraitist of the Bourbon court, displayed his mastery in the art of female portraiture, combining neoclassical restraint with a subtle psychological breath. This is abundantly clear in this female portrait.

The figure, depicted half-length, imposes itself with serene dignity. The oval face, elongated and harmonious, is enhanced by a profuse hairstyle of carefully modeled curls, with which the painter emphasizes both the prevailing fashion and the individuality of the sitter. The eyes, of a crystalline blue, address the viewer with a frank, lucid gaze, free of affectation, while a barely sketched smile hints at a contained inner world, perhaps ironic or melancholic.

The treatment of the attire is particularly refined. The neckline of the dress is adorned with a cascade of pleats and lace that overlap in delicate games of transparency, revealing the artist's technical skill in painting vaporous fabrics. The wisely distributed puff on the cheeks not only responds to the aesthetic canon of the time, but also gives the figure a breath of vitality and closeness.

Agustín Esteve stood out fundamentally for the innumerable portraits he painted of the nobles of the Court and the high court bureaucrats. Under the protection of Godoy and the Osuna and Alba families, the painter developed a successful career at court until 1808. As in the case of other artists of his generation, the French invasion of 1808 and the convulsive period that lasted until 1814, together with the appearance of new painters and the natural decline of his age, caused his star to be eclipsed by minor commissions after the restoration of Ferdinand in 1814 and, at the end of his life, he even struggled financially. Born into a family of artists, Agustín Esteve received his first lessons from his father, the sculptor Antonio Esteve. He then entered the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia, and from there he went to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, where in 1773 he was awarded for the first time, with a third class prize in the annual competition of the Academy. After completing this final stage of his training, in which the influence of Mengs' teaching can be observed, Esteve became Francisco de Goya's assistant, something that would profoundly mark the Valencian artist's work from then on. The activity at Goya's side must have been intense since 1780, since after the death of Carlos III the new king commissioned numerous portraits to the Aragonese for different institutions, many of which were made directly by Esteve based on Goya's originals. During these years the painter would begin his good relations with the court, becoming the official portraitist first of the house of Osuna, and finally the main portraitist of the court at the end of the 18th century. Thus, Goya's patronage and Esteve's intense portraitist activity were finally rewarded when he was appointed Pintor de Cámara in 1800. With the entry of the French into Madrid and the accession of Joseph I to the throne, Agustín Esteve faced the same dilemma as the rest of the Pintores de Cámara regarding his loyalty to the new sovereign. Esteve, like the rest, placed himself under the orders of the new king and received his salaries as a painter of the Chamber. In spite of this, on the return of Ferdinand VII he had no problems to rejoin the service of his former master, since he was not in favor of Napoleon's brother.