{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":50182,"auction_id":99,"set_id":131,"lot_number":"93","artist":"Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)","title":"After Raphael, The Small Cowper Madonna","starting_price":3400000,"signed_dated":"signed (copy by) and dated 1959 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"38\" x 28\" (97 cm x 71 cm)","property":null,"coa":"Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"Private Collection, USA","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Fernando Amorsolo would have an uninterrupted reign as the King of Philippine Painting for nearly 30 years, from the moment he stepped off the boat in Manila, as he arrived from his education in Madrid.
It was prophetic that at his first one-man show — which happened to be at, of all places, the Grand Central Galleries in New York City — all but two of his 30 works were snapped up by the American exhibition-going public. That would set the stage for a career that was beloved as it was steeped in excellence.
Scholars of Fernando Amorsolo have noted that his works fall into four general categories ; The Philippine scenes, inhabited by farmers, fruit vendors, women going to market, men tending to their fighting cocks but also fisherfolk,too; second, the historical works detailing pre-Spanish characters, rajahs and princesses, as well as legends, real and fictional events; thirdly, there are also ‘boceto’-like nudes; fourth, the poignant depictions of war and Manila razed to the ground; and finally, the portraits of American and Filipino officialdom, their rich and their famous.
This copy of the famous Raphael work, now known as ‘The Small Cowper Madonna’ and which hangs in the National Gallery of Washington D.C. is decidedly a portrait, albeit of one of the most famous women in all of Christendom, the Virgin Mary with her Child Jesus.
Painted in 1959, it demonstrates Amorsolo’s triumphant skill and draughtsmanship, and the technique that convinced the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid that these talents would be better served as a professor and not a mere student.
Serendipitously, this High Renaissance portrait features a background of the Italian countryside; a facet that was probably not lost on Amorsolo, who was regarded as the titan of Philippine landscapes.
It is one of the rare, if perhaps the only known, overtly religious work to come to market. (In the 1950s, there is a record of his having exhibited a work titled ‘Faith among the Ruins’ and ‘Baptism of Humabon’ at the Missionary Art Exhibit in Rome.)
Amorsolo’s dazzling range as expressed in this work indeed underlines his recognition as the Philippines’ first National Artist for the Visual Arts, whose declaration marks its half-century anniversary this year.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972) After Raphael, The Small Cowper Madonna signed (copy by) and dated 1959 (lower right) oil on canvas 38\" x 28\" (97 cm x 71 cm)