Descripción
Neither this poster nor its motif has been reproduced on any other posters. This painting was painted by Picasso when he was living at the Bateu-Lavoir in 1905. It is a portrait of Benedetta Bianco Coletta, the beautiful wife of the artist Ricard Canals. It was Canals who introduced Picasso to the technique of printmaking.
The Canals lived in a room at the Bateu-Lavoir. Benedetta, born in Cervaro, Italy, in 1870, was originally a model for Degas and Paul Albert Bartholomé. She posed for Bartholomé’s Monument to the Dead, painted in 1895. She married Canals in 1906. She was an excellent cook and Picasso was a great fan of her macaroni. Fernande Oliver tells us that Benedetta was very resourceful and always found a way to feed them all. The Canals had a son who pronounced Pablo like Tablo, and of whom Picasso painted a beautiful portrait.
Benedetta’s painting corresponds to a transitional period between his Blue Period and his Rose Period. Picasso had given his friend’s wife, as Palau i Fabre tells us, “a distant air of a great lady.” It is said that the grace with which Benedetta posed with Fernande for a work by Canals, led Picasso to paint the portrait. Gaya Nuño describes it as “one of the most haughty and seductive portraits in the history of painting, and in which the condition of women is elevated without resorting to sumptuous adornments.” This painting originally belonged to the Luis Plandiura Collection, and was later acquired by the Museums of Barcelona.
