Carlos Vázquez Úbeda

CARLOS VÁZQUEZ ÚBEDA (Ciudad Real, 1869 - Barcelona, 1944).
"Portrait of Queen Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg" 1906.
Pastel on paper glued to canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 105 x 75 cm; 125 x 94 cm (frame).

This portrait of Queen Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg, dated 1906, has a special relevance both for the identity of the portrayed and for the historical moment in which it was executed: the year of her marriage with Alfonso XIII and her proclamation as Queen of Spain. The work is therefore inscribed in a clearly institutional context, conceived to project before the people the official image of the new sovereign in accordance with the aesthetic and protocol codes of the time.

Carlos Vázquez Úbeda constructs an effigy of great elegance and serenity, where the light dress, the jewels -tiara and necklace- and the careful pose reinforce her royal condition. The restrained expression and dignified attitude convey the idea of stability and dynastic continuity, while the sober background concentrates attention on the figure, enhanced by the luminosity of the pastel, a technique that the artist masters with remarkable mastery in a large-scale format.

The current importance of the piece is further reinforced by the renewed historiographical attention to Victoria Eugenia, whose figure has recently been revalued through publications, a television series and a monographic exhibition at the Galería de las Colecciones Reales, highlighting her role in the contemporary history of the Spanish monarchy.

Carlos Vázquez Úbeda was a member of the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, knight of the French Legion of Honor, honorary member of the Hispanic Society of America, president of the Artistic Circle and the Artistic-Literary Society of Barcelona, and was decorated with the Grand Cross of Alfonso XII and the Red Eagle of Germany. He is represented in the Prado Museum, as well as in outstanding private collections.