Auction October 1 and 2
The Granados Collection
The Renaissance of a National Artistic Treasure
In October, Setdart will tender one of the most prestigious national collections of Spanish Baroque, the Granados collection. This event will offer a unique opportunity for collectors and art enthusiasts to acquire works by great masters of the Golden Age.
ORIGINS OF THE GRANADOS COLLECTION
The history of this unique collection begins with the figure of Miguel Granados. Architect, painter and collector, he acquired his first painting when he was only twenty years old and continued buying until his death, when he was more than eighty. This painting is still part of his legacy. He dedicated his whole life to art, in the deepest and most vocational sense of the word. He worked tirelessly and invested his wealth in creating what has come down to us today. His extensive knowledge and privileged eye could see quality and beauty where others may have missed it. His collection was alive; he could get rid of some works in order to get even better ones. Thanks to this fact, some works discovered by him are now part of the Prado Museum, National Heritage, National Museum of Sculpture, Museum of Asturias, Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, Valencia, Thyssen, Indianapolis…
His love for the collection is first understood by the process by which it grew and transformed. He fell in love with each of his works individually, to the point of knowing their smallest details and devoting himself entirely to their study and enhancement. In the words of his sons José Miguel and Santiago: “He, surrounded by his collection, was happy and he transmitted this with generosity to all of us who knew him”.
THE PALACE OF THE MARQUESES VILLAFRANCA
The house is a fundamental part of the collection. The way he transformed it and installed everything he had treasured is a creative act. Each painting, each piece of furniture or object has a meaning, just like each brushstroke he used to paint his pictures. His passion for art and his extraordinary knowledge of architecture were key to an outstanding restoration of the building in the early 1980s. The care and detail in every part of the process allowed the palace to return to its former splendor. Doors from the 17th century, stained glass windows, sills and antique tiles are now an integral part of the house, elements that at the time had to be sought and restored to be adapted to their new location. The rigor and care used resulted in a place that seems unchanged for centuries.
A COLLECTION REPRESENTING THE VIRTUOSITY OF THE GOLDEN CENTURY
Years of experience and study led to the Golden Age. The collection was transformed towards those great masters that define the purest essence of our art and that today are part of this house: Murillo, Ribera and Velázquez. Mr. Granados focused on the baroque painters of the Madrid school, his work being key to the dissemination of this part of history. Names such as Rizzi, Carreño de Miranda, Herrera el Mozo or Cerezo have a special presence and are part of a group with a unique character in Spain. The opportunity to enjoy these artists in a setting and layout that preserves the original context is unparalleled.
In the words of José Miguel Granados: “If our father created the collection, my brother and I have taken on the challenge of preserving it. During my father’s lifetime, we began to disseminate and enhance the collection. We collaborate with educational institutions, researchers and we lend our works for exhibitions”. Right now, two works from the collection are part of the exhibition Tristán, entre lo divino y humano (Tristan, between the divine and the human ) at the Museo del Greco. And, for next year, two more loans have been confirmed for exhibitions at the Museo del Prado and the Museo de América. Dozens of works loaned for exhibitions over the years, incorporated into the catalogs and reference literature of the artists, are the most convincing proof of an extraordinary work to enhance the value of Spanish art. On their own initiative, the Granados family has organized half a dozen exhibitions featuring their own works: The Splendor of the Andalusian Baroque in Cordoba and Seville, Baroque Spirit in Burgos, Semblantes in Segovia, Passion for Art in Caceres, Mysticism and Truth in Granada, Masters of the Spanish Baroque in Murcia.
The group of works is a privileged means to disseminate and enhance the value of Spanish baroque art. Mr. José Miguel Granados shows us the future of the collection always starting from this premise: “Our goal is to conserve and disseminate the collection, but also to collaborate in the dissemination and research of new works. It is a new stage with new projects and exhibitions that we assume with enthusiasm”.
The collection, as well as those responsible for maintaining the legacy, have found in Setdart an opportunity to create a new chapter in this story, a new stage in which to look to the future with the aim of getting to know and value it: “An auction may be the best way to culminate our father’s stage and begin our own. The collection was born with pieces that were in the art market and, in a way, it is only natural that they return to it”.
