Alex Maguy (Galerie de L'Élysée), Paris
Caplin Collection, New York (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 17, 1990, lot 214A)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 14, 1997, lot 382
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above

Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, 172 Dessins en Noir et en Couleurs, 1972, no. 86

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1971-1972, vol. XXXIII, Paris, 1978, no. 418, illustrated pl. 149
The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawing and Sculpture. The Final Years, 1970-1973, San Francisco, 2004, no. 72-156, illustrated p. 318

The piece is in fine condition with just a hint of light staining and some very faint foxing marks. The verso has a blotch of ink at the bottom edge center (most likely from the artist) and a few scuffs of grime. The above condition report has been provided by Alan Firkser of Paper Conservation Studio, Inc., 1841 Broadway, New York, NY, 10023, alan@paperconservationstudio.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s second wife, is portrayed in Cinq Personnages alongside the musketeer, one of the most celebrated subjects of Picasso’s mature oeuvre. The image of the musketeer first emerged in Picasso’s art in 1966, during a vulnerable period of convalescence and seclusion after surgery. Indicative of masculine bravura and sexuality as well as creative talent that had not lost its luster; the musketeers are understood to be self-portraits of the artist in disguise.

Gert Schiff wrote of the origins of Picasso’s musketeer character: “Apart from a lifelong love of masquerade, they came out of childhood memories. Returning to his beginnings as he did in so many ways at the end of his life, Picasso may have remembered certain drawings that he had done in 1894, at the age of twelve, after his first visits to the theater… Furthermore, musketeers belonged to the stock-in-trade of bourgeois historical genre painting around 1900, both in Spain (followers of Fortuny such as Domingo Marqués, Sanchez Barbudo or Pinazo) and in France (followers of Meissonier). However, their immediate source was disclosed by Jacqueline in a conversation with Malraux: ‘They came to Pablo when he’d gone back to studying Rembrandt’” (Gert Schiff, “The Musketeer and His Theatrum Mundi,” in Picasso: The Last Years, 1963-1973, New York, 1983, p. 31).

 

Fig. 1 Rembrandt, Self Portrait with Saskia, oil on canvas, circa 1636, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden