Page 23 - Orient Collection

5. The Rest of The SULTAN

Artist: Antonio FABRES y COSTA, Spanish, (1855 - 1938)
Execution date (approximate): 1910
Téchnique: Oil on Canvas, (Signed lower right)
Measures: 101.5 x 170.5 cm.
Description: In this beautifully colorful painting by FABRES, the Favorite (probably
Shehrazade) is entertaining the Sultan who is resting and smoking the Huka (water-pipe).

Exhibitions
Austria, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems-Stein, Date: 14.08.2005 – 13.11.2005. Harem Des Orients.

Publications
• Reproduced in Harem Des Orients, p.95.

Biography
Also known as Antonio Fabrés, was a famous Spanish artist during the turn of the 20th
century. He was born in Barcelona in 1854. It is said that he had the artist gene since his
father was a draughtsman and his uncle a silversmith. He started studying at the Escuela
de Bellas Artes in his native city at the age of 13. When he turned 21, he received a grant to
study in Rome. There are records of his sculptures from early in his career but later on he
became a painter almost exclusively. He joined Mariano Fortuny with a group that became
known for their intense realism. Their popularity grew with the taste of the bourgeoisie
seeking exotic images with oriental or medieval themes. He went back to Barcelona in
1886 and in 1894 he moved to Paris. The popularity he had earned during his decade in
Italy helped him open a large studio where he could create complex scenes for the upper
classes (such as The Sultan’s Gift, around 1885-1886, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya).
In 1902 the Academia de San Carlos decided to renovate their classical techniques with the
ones of realism that were so popular in Europe at the time. Antonio Fabrés was called to
take the place of Santiago Rebull as head of this important institution. Although some of his
students went on to become what was later known as the Post-Revolutionary Movement
in Mexican art, the faculty had a hard time adapting to his distinct style and personality.
In 1907, he returned to Rome. One of his last commissions in Mexico was the decorations
of a hall at the Porfirio Diaz mansion where he mainly focused on art nouveau style.
Fabrés was recognized almost everywhere he traveled. He was acclaimed in Barcelona,
London, Paris, Vienna and Lyon. At the end of his life he was dealt a very unfortunate blow,
when in 1926 he decided to donate a large amount of works to the Museo de Bellas Artes
de Barcelona. In exchange for this generous donation he asked the Museum that a hall
be built with his name, but the museum never built that hall and although he protested
several times, they could never settle the argument. Antonio Fabrés died in Rome in 1938.

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