6875  

Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares 1928

Seated almost full length slightly to the right on an upholstered armchair with a cane back, looking full face to the viewer, wearing a long red Lanvin gown, the left strap off her shoulder, and a wide gold bangle on her right wrist, holding a yellow jade necklace in her left hand, an embroidered and fringed cream stole beside her, her hair in a plait pinned on the crown of her head, a blue and gold brocade curtain behind her to the left

Oil on canvas, 125 x 94.5 cm (49 ¼ x 37 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / PARIS 1928

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 60: Graziella de Ortiz Linares / 11 Octobre 1928

Private Collection

Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares, the eldest of the three daughters of the tin magnate Simón Iturri Patiño [6872], was the first of the family to commission work from de László with the present portrait. It is likely that she introduced her parents to the artist, which resulted in eight portraits of the Patiños painted over the years 1928-1931.

From correspondence in the artist’s archive we know that de László, according to his custom, had selected the material and chosen the design for Graziella’s dress, which was made by Lanvin in Paris. Her husband Jorge Ortiz Linares wrote to the artist in September: “the dress has been prepared by La[n]vin according to your design. Madame La[n]vin personally has the matter in hand, the firm being the best which specializes in this class of dress. The dress will not be completely finished off until you have seen it and given your approval.” He noted that the frame “according to your instructions, is also ready.”^[1]

De László was very satisfied with the portrait and he wrote to request its loan for the Venice Biennale Exhibition in 1930, the Hôtel Jean Charpentier exhibition in Paris in June 1931 and the Paris Salon of 1933. When it was exhibited in Venice, de László reported to Simón Patiño that he had the opportunity to show it to the King of Italy^[2]: “I received His Majesty in front of my portrait of his son, the Prince of Piedmont^[3] [7890], which remains alone on its easel, and then we went to see the portrait of Mrs Linares in front of which the King, with the President  Conte Volpi, stayed for a few minutes. I learnt that the portrait made a strong impression on him.” ^[4] 

When de László  painted the sitter’s parents’ portraits in 1931 [6872] [6876], the artist also made a less formal study portrait of her [6879] in gratitude, as she had lent her drawing room at n° 34 Avenue Foch to serve as a makeshift studio during that time. In the inventory of the artist’s possessions made after his death, it is recorded that a smaller preparatory oil sketch, done in preparation for the present portrait remained in his studio. That sketch remains untraced.

Graziella Patiño Rodríguez, the eldest of the three daughters of Simón Iturri Patiño and his wife Albina Rodríguez Ocampo, was born in Oruro, Bolivia in 1895.The family moved to Madrid and later to Paris when her father, at the peak of his career, was appointed Bolivia’s Minister Plenipotentiary there. She married Jorge Ortíz Linares (1894-1965) in Paris in 1926. On her marriage her parents gave them the hôtel particulier at no. 34 Avenue Foch, next door to their own elegant home at no. 32.

Graziella’s husband was an aristocratic landowner of Spanish descent, living in Bolivia. A diplomat by career, he was appointed Bolivia’s Minister Plenipotentiary, successively to Brussels, The Hague, and Paris.Together they shared a privileged cosmopolitan life. Both became serious art collectors.Whereas her husband collected rare French books and manuscripts, the sitter was keenly interested in all aspects of French culture, her predilection being for silver.^[5] They had two sons, Jorge (born 1927) and Jaime (born 1930). Doña Graziella, her siblings and their heirs helped to expand the work of the family’s educational foundation, the Fundación Universitaria Simón I. Patiño^[6] originally established in 1931 by their father in La Paz, Bolivia.

The sitter died in Paris on 31 December 1980.

EXHIBITED:

•Biennale, Venice, XVII Biennale de Venezia, 1930, room 15, no. 15

•Hôtel Jean Charpentier, Paris, Exposition P.A. László, June 1931, no. 66

•Paris, Salon de la société des artistes français, 1933, no. 1451

LITERATURE:  

•DLA 1934 parcel, Tidens Kvinder, 12th year, no. 40, front cover, ill.

•DLA079-0022, letter from de László’s secretary to Jorge Ortíz Linares, 15 June 1928

•DLA079-0027, letter from Jorge Ortíz Linares [written on Simón Patiño’s notepaper] to de László, 26 September 1928

•DLA081-0174, letter from de László to Simón Patiño, 17 October 1930

With our grateful thanks to Timothy F. Boettger for his help with biographical details

SMdeL  2011