Gaston L. INFANTE (École BRÉSILIENNE). Lot n° 32

Gaston L. INFANTE (BRAZILIAN School of the late 19th century). Spanish peasant in an interior. Oil on canvas signed lower left. D.: 105 × 120 cm. Of Gaston INFANTE, we know nothing today except his birthplace and his participation in the Salon des Artistes Français throughout the first half of this century. This painting bears direct witness to the influence of Spanish painting of the Golden Age and the Bodegones. Thus, the interior of the tavern, the figure of the common man dressed in traditional costume, the presence of the glazed earthenware still-life, but also the warm tones ranging from brown to red, highlight our painter's obvious debt to Diego Velázquez. Having assimilated the lesson of the great painter, Infante adds his masterful sense of composition: the bare interior becomes the receptacle of the still life on which the overwhelming light almost contained outside falls.