{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":22084,"auction_id":23,"set_id":42,"lot_number":"177","artist":"Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)","title":"Portrait of Don Manuel ‘Manolo’ Elizalde y Moreau","starting_price":500000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1938 (lower left)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"37\" x 47\" (94 cm x 119 cm)","property":null,"coa":"Leon Gallery wishes to thank Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo for confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Don Manolo Elizalde was born to Don Joaquin Elizalde and Don?a Carmen Diaz-Moreau of Spain. The Elizaldes are among the most important Basque families in the Philippines, having arrived from Elizondo in Navarre in 1846.
\n\nIn less than a hundred years, they had become among the wealthiest and most influential families in the Philippines. Don Manolo, alongside his older brother Don Joaquin Miguel, would acquire one of the country’s most venerable trading conglomerates Ynchausti & Co in 1936. Transforming it into Elizalde & Co., they would have control over interests in ships, rope, oil and paint manufacturing, sugar concerns including a hacienda and mill, a lumber dealership, a distillery, insurance and eventually a newspaper and radio stations.
\n\nHe was not your ordinary tycoon, however. Before graduating from Cambridge University in England, he performed in jazz bands organized by his brother in both New York and London (including at the Savoy Hotel) and was known in musical circles as “Lizz” Elizalde.
\nDon Manolo was also famous as a polo player alongside his three brothers who were recognized by the American Polo Association for their skill. The Elizalde brothers would resign their memberships at the Manila Polo Club in a fury when a certain Quezon official was blackballed by the club despite their sponsorship. The popular polo-players then established a rival club called Los Tamaraos in Paran?aque which would be rated as one of the best in the world.
\n\nAt the time of this portrait, he was listed in the Commonwealth directory as a prominent businessman, director of an insurance company and an officer of Elizalde & Co. He was also described as a member of not just the Los Tamaraos but also the Casino Espan?ol, the University Club and the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club.
\n\nAmorsolo has painted him surrounded by all the trappings of important enterprise : A sheaf of folders, perusing documents. Beside him is an ashtray and interestingly, a paper weight in the shape of a trowel, symbolizing the laying of foundations for many new ventures to come.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972) Portrait of Don Manuel ‘Manolo’ Elizalde y Moreau signed and dated 1938 (lower left) oil on canvas 37\" x 47\" (94 cm x 119 cm)