Alta Época, Tesoros Coloniales y Relojes de Lujo
Oil on canvas in oval with important period cornucopia frame, canvas measurements: 50 x 40 cm, framed measurements: 90 x 60 cm. Francisco Bayeu (Zaragoza, 1734-Madrid, 1795) began his career in Zaragoza in the workshop of the Bohemian painter Juan Andrés Merklein and in the drawing classes of José Luzán Martínez. Bayeu then returned to his hometown, where he carried out several commissions for churches and convents, including the Aula Dei Charterhouse. Anton Raphael Mengs claimed him in 1762 to help him decorate the New Palace. Thanks to the interventions of Mengs, the Aragonese collaborated in numerous decorative undertakings for the royal sites, which earned him the appointment of chamber painter in 1767. He worked mainly as a fresco painter, and in 1768 he made the one in the vault of the conversation room of the princes of Asturias room decorated with the theme Hercules on Olympus. Bayeu combined his duties at court with different commissions offered by the Zaragoza authorities. He was then entrusted with the decoration of the royal chapel in the palace of Aranjuez. After the departure of Mengs in 1777 to Rome, Francisco Bayeu assumed all the obligations that had been abandoned by the first painter. Bayeu was also responsible for the artistic tasks of the Santa Bárbara Tapestry Factory. He made cardboard models that his brother made and supervised the work of Goya, his brother-in-law since 1773. In 1785, Carlos III entrusted Bayeu and Maella with the restoration of the paintings in the royal collections. Reference bibliography: os Bayeu, Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja (Ibercaja, Obra Social y Cultural), 1979. ISBN 84-500-3272-5. Provenance: important Valencian private collection.
