LET US SEE THE PAINTINGS REGOYOS MADE IN CÓRDOBA
The first one, “Tower of Córdoba”, a 65 x 54 cm oil on canvas, belongs to a private colector in Pamplona. It is a beautiful painting of Santiago’s church tower, the very same that you can enjoy from Viento10’s terrace. It was painted in the inner garden of the Benamejí Palace, in Agustín Moreno street, as of today the main venue of the Córdoba School of Arts. Though the green has grown a bit since, here is a photo of the exact place where it was painted in the garden.
The second painting is “A street in Córdoba, 1905”. Oil on a pannel of 40 x 31,5 cm. It is part of a private collection in Madrid. It depicts the street of Santa María de Gracia approached from the San Lorenzo to the Realejo Square section. The bell wall belongs to an extinct convent placed where we nowadays can see the square of Juan Bernier. The painting, although part of his most luminous and impresionist period, tells us still about his previous “Black Spain” themes.
The third and last one of them is known as “Garden of Córdoba”. Unfourtanately I have not found much information about it. As I said earlier, I got to it by chance in an auction web site: an oil on canvas of 60 x 50 cm. It was sold there around 1990 and it has been part of a private collection ever since. It also depicts the palace of the Benamejí Marquesis, scenery to the many adventures of Baroja’s “The fair of discrete”. At the back, the tower of Saint Andrés church and the Mountains of Córdoba can be seen. This venue is not very well known in Córdoba for its access is allowed only to Arts students.
A BIT OF HISTORY
The novelist met the painter in 1901, in the city of San Sebastián, and they shall be good friends and travel companions ever since. Baroja said about him: «He had a jolly and smiling face, an eye higher than the other. He was a good man without malice, and so acusomed to ask he would always put someone in a cornet». Baroja was one the few that tried to understand the artist, everyone else treated him like a fool, out of that effort came this compliment: «I haven’t met a single a painter with the genius and originality Regoyos has».
In 1904, Pío Baroja and Darío de Regoyos travelled together to Córdoba, Baroja was then taking notes and researching for the novel he would later write at the Monastery of El Paular: “The fair of discrete”.
A lot has been written about Baroja and Regoyos visit to Córdoba and, frankly, quite far from the facts. For instance, academics differ on the dates they travelled, some say 1903, other 1904 and even 1905; most likely the date was May of 1904. The palace of the Benamejí Marquesis was one of the main venues of the visit and motive of the three paintings by Regoyos in Córdoba. Back then the building was the Industrial Arts School of Córdoba, and was managed by Darío’s good friend Mateo Inurria; who would also join them in their promenades and conversations while in the city. This frienship allowed Regoyos to paint with ease in the interior of the romantic gardens. It is not true, as some academics state, that Julio Romero de Torres introduced them. It is quite the other way around. Julio Romero was an associate teacher at the Industrial Arts School and Mateo Inurria introduced him to Regoyos.