FRANCISCO BAYEU Y SUBIAS (1734-1795)

"The flagellation of Christ" Oil on canvas with lining. Labels on the back. Elegant carved gilded wood frame with a passe-partout decorated with a polychrome patina. Size: 57 x 32 cm Provenance : Private collection Finland Egger Collection, Zurich Galerie Jürg Stucker, Bern 1966 Swiss and Monte Carlo private collection Documentation : Handwritten expertise of Professor Antonio Mendez Casal dated March 1938 attributing the work to Bayeu and dating it between 1770 and 1785, accompanied by a translation certified by the Swiss Embassy in Helsinki in November 1939. Invoice purchase slip, Galerie Jürg Stucker, Bern 18 November 1966 Biography: Spanish painter born in Zaragoza, brother of Manuel and Ramon also painters, he was the friend and brother-in-law of Francisco Goya. He began his training in the studio of the Bohemian painter Juan Andrès Merklein and obtained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Saint-Ferdinand in Madrid. In 1762, Anton Raphael Mengs called him to decorate the new palace of Charles III and succeeded him as director of the Royal Tapestry Factory in Santa Barbara. There he made the models for the designs supervised by Goya. In 1785, at the request of Charles III, Bayeu undertook the restoration of the paintings in the Royal Collections and the following year, when he fell ill, Francisco Goya replaced him. The Prince and Princess of Asturias also commissioned Bayeu to decorate the dining room and chapel of the Royal Palace of El Pardo, as well as the dome of the King's bedroom, his last work.