Secrets revealed...

10:54 a.m.

By the end of the 19th Century, artist Eduardo Schiaffino took painting classes in Paris to improve his technique. It's precisely around those days that he painted Reposo, which was given an award at the Universal Exhibition. It's was mainly a study, with a simple subject: the naked back of a woman. An article published on the Argentine newspaper La Nación, by Jaime de la María on July 2nd, 1890, warns that the masterpiece would raise critics among the prudish society of Buenos Aires. The journalist found the drawing good and the colour delicate, but he chose to highlight the blurriness in the contour of the body and the bluish brightness of the canvas.

Details appart, the model who posed for the painting was Schiaffino's wife, who would not dare show her face.

Reposo, by Eduardo Schiaffino (1889)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 109 x 200 cm - MNBA

On the exhibition currently taking place at the MNBA ("Memoria de la escultura 1895-1914"), there's a piece by Miguel Blay y Fábregas (Olot, Gerona, 1866-Madrid, 1936). It is once again Schiaffino's wife, and thanks to it, we are able to see the face of this young French woman that once posed for his husband, showing only her back.

Retrato de la Señora de Schiaffino, by Miguel Blay y Fábregas (1906-1907)

Materials: marble / Measures: 57 x 40 x 29.5 cm

Keep reading… "Cuadros de viaje: Artistas argentinos en Europa y Estados Unidos (1880-1910)", by AAVV. Fondo de Cultura Económica de Argentina SA, Buenos Aires.