Luis Ricardo Falero 1851-1896

Born in Granada into a wealthy aristocratic family, Luis Ricardo Falero de Candelarese, later Duke of Labranzano, was sent by his family to complete his education in England at Richmond College, and then at a lycée in Paris. Returning to Spain in 1866, he enrolled in the naval school with the intention of pursuing a career in the Spanish navy. Disgusted by this path and irresistibly drawn to the arts, he broke with his family and fled clandestinely to Paris to study painting as a self-taught artist. Needing to support himself, he began working as a portraitist, which introduced him at a young age to members of the Ministry of Fine Arts, including Chennevières. Passionate about science, particularly astronomy and chemistry, he befriended Camille Flammarion and simultaneously trained as an engineer, participating in the founding of the Société internationale des électriciens in 1883.

Falero exhibited at the Salon from 1877 to 1886, gaining recognition for a singular style that combined the nude with orientalist and fantastic scenes. He created striking astral allegories, such as Étoile double, which caused a sensation at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1881 (cat. no. 860). Reproduced and distributed by the Goupil gallery, the work was presented again at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, where it was noted in the Spanish section (cat. no. 29). Falero occasionally added a playful esoteric touch to his compositions, as seen in La Sorcière, exhibited at the Indépendants in 1884 (cat. no. 365).

As his fame grew internationally, he settled in London in 1887, benefiting from a strong network of collectors and dealers who promoted his works as far as New York. In addition to exhibiting at the Royal Academy, he showed his works in major galleries on Bond Street, including the Grosvenor Gallery and the Lifford Gallery on Piccadilly Street.

Dedicated and gifted by Falero to his friend, the Franco-German painter August Friedrich Schenck, our pair of small paintings belongs to the artist’s Parisian period. They are rare studies for two larger compositions representing allegories of day and night, now in private hands. In a subtle play of contrast, Falero contrasts the postures and gestures of the two nude women floating in the skies. In the first, a blonde woman facing forward, she hides her face as the sun sets over the ocean, bathing the atmosphere in a strong canary yellow, wrapped in an elegant white drapery. In contrast, in the starry darkness of night, the second, a brunette shown from behind, is captured ascending to embrace the moon, with swirling black drapery trailing behind her.

While these subjects reflect Falero’s passion for astronomy, they also provide a pretext for the young artist to paint female nudes, a subject to which he was deeply devoted: 

“I favor the nude, not only because it is the most difficult, but because it is for me the most perfect expression of beauty in women. And I seek, without any prejudices of modesty (prejudices misplaced in art) to render feminine grace as I see it.”