Lot 263
Jose Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza (Mexican/Louisiana, 1750-1802), "Portrait of an Important Spanish Colonial Official, likely Sebastian Nicolas Calvo de la Puerta y O'Farrill, Marques de Casa Calvo (1751-1820)", oil on canvas, unsigned, 42 in. x 32 3/4 in., framed. Note: Born in 1751 in Havana, where his ancestors had immigrated from Spain in 1574, Sebastián Nicolás Calvo de la Puerta y OFarrill (later the Marqués de Casa-Calvo) lived in a remarkable time. Trade routes, travel and a sense of interconnectedness across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mexico transformed the world and those inhabiting it. Research into Casa-Calvo has been furthered recently by Gilbert Dins extensive and enlightening biography of 2016. Din notes: Much of what is presently known in the United States about Casa-Calvo has come from scattered American sources The writers of the prominent American documents, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and William C.C. Claiborne, among others, regarded him as an adversary and disparaged him at the same time they schemed to seize adjacent territory in the Mississippi Valley from the crumbling Spanish Empire. Dins new research sheds light on Casa-Calvo as an important and loyal Spanish subject an elegant gentleman, nobleman and military governor who was committed to protecting Spanish interests. The significant portrait offered here represents the only known image of the Marqués. Casa-Calvo joined the military and became a cadet in a troop of dragoons led by Alejandro OReilly at the age of twelve. Studying all subjects military, Casa-Calvo earned his first officers rank six years later and was appointed Captain of his company of dragoons by OReilly during an expedition to New Orleans to contain a rebellion in 1769. He also served in the sieges of Mobile in 1780 and Pensacola in 1781 under the command of Bernardo de Gálvez. Casa-Calvo continued to rise in the Spanish Army throughout his life, attaining the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel, Brevet Colonel, and Brigadier General by 1794. At the end of the war with the British, Casa-Calvo, who had inherited his parents substantial fortune and property in Cuba along with his brothers, spent time in Spain serving under King Carlos III and officially obtaining his title of Marqués in 1785. In 1789, Casa-Calvo returned to Cuba during a time of relative peace and was able to spend time with his family as well as petition for further career advances. He then joined the Spanish troops in Saint Domingue, where he acted as governor of Bayaja and gained valuable administrative and wartime experience. In 1763, the Cession of Louisiana from France to Spain had effected an extremely important and formative time period for the Mississippi River region. Early governors under Spanish rule, such as Antonio de Ulloa, Alejandro OReilly, and Luis de Unzaga, met challenges maintaining order among the mostly French citizens and implementing new Spanish laws. Additional struggles included managing relationships with Britain and the early colonists who would eventually become citizens of the United States. In 1777, Bernardo de Gálvez became Governor of Louisiana, inheriting the numerous difficulties of this pivotal position. He was particularly engaged with British and American traders, each of whom wanted to maintain use of the important post of New Orleans and avail themselves of the route up and down the vast Mississippi River. Gálvez faced additional challenges when King Carlos III attempted to retake the British territories of Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola. The Spanish Army and Navy mounted an ultimately successful campaign using troops from Spain, Cuba, and Louisiana to overtake the British, at the same time secretly helping the American Revolutionary War by supplying goods and funds. Esteban Rodríguez Miró, who had served in the Spanish Army under Gálvez, became the next governor of Louisiana in 1785, followed by Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, and Francisco Bouligny. Under these governors, Spain became uneasy about American expansion and the border issues between Spanish West Florida and the United States. In light of these concerns, Spain agreed to Pinckneys Treaty of 1795 which established a border between the United States and the Spanish colonies and gave the United States rights to utilize the Mississippi River, including the port of New Orleans, for trading purposes. By 1799, Casa-Calvos military knowledge and expertise had elevated him to amidst the highest ranking officials in the Spanish colonies. Casa-Calvo attained the rank of Brigadier General in 1794 and earned valuable experience fighting in New Orleans, Mobile, and Saint Domingue. Therefore, it is not surprising that when the governorship of Louisiana became vacant due to the illnesses of Gayoso and Bouligny, Captain General Salvador de Muro y Salazar, the Marqués de Someruelos, appointed Casa-Calvo as the interim military governor, taking responsibility not only for military issues, but also political and diplomatic duties. Working with the often contentious Nicolás María Vidal and Juan Ventura Morales, Casa-Calvo navigated a delicate political system while also governing the city of New Orleans and bolstering the Louisiana military. In 1801, Governor Salcedo arrived in New Orleans, and subsequently Casa-Calvo was relieved of his official duties governing the colony and returned to Havana following a brief visit to Mexico City and Veracruz. After two years spent in Havana as the colonel of a regiment, Casa-Calvo was recalled to New Orleans to help ensure the smooth transition of the Louisiana Purchase. He was then the highest-ranking Spanish official remaining in New Orleans and oversaw all details pertaining to the removal of ships, troops, personnel, and records from the region. Din writes of Casa-Calvo: On returning to New Orleans, he wanted to be perceived differently from his 1799-1801 stay, when he was the interim governor. This time impressing the inhabitants was important and, for this purpose, a personal entourage of about twelve soldiers and several servants accompanied him. He flaunted his wealth by bringing his ornate Spanish carriage from Havana and at least a pair of spirited thoroughbreds to pull it through the streets of New Orleans. Casa-Calvos final task was to survey the Louisiana-Texas border. With Spain holding territories west of Louisiana in addition to the Florida territories, the issue of where to draw the border between Texas and Louisiana was of critical concern to both Spain and the United States. A joint force of Spanish and American engineers, including expert cartographer Nicolas de Finiels, was created and the expedition began in October of 1805. This group surveyed the land surrounding the border, which had been declared at the Sabine River, and this demarcation remains there to this day permanently deciding the shape of the state of Louisiana. As a strident supporter of Spanish interests, Casa-Calvo faced difficulties with the American governor William C.C. Claiborne, who ordered his departure from Louisiana in 1806. For his work with the Louisiana Purchase and surveying of the Louisiana/Texas border, King Carlos IV promoted Casa-Calvo to the rank of Mariscal de Campo, the equivalent of a Major General, in 1807 at El Escorial, the royal residence just outside of Madrid. Casa-Calvo never returned to Cuba; he died in 1820 in Paris and is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, although his descendants remain in Cuba and the United States to this day. Of the twelve Spanish Colonial governors of Louisiana, all were high ranking officials in the Spanish military and many were noblemen. As such, when a portrait was painted of one of these prominent figures, the splendid uniform denoting the sitters rank was meticulously recorded. An expert on Spanish Colonial military uniform, René Chartrand writes: Rank and corps was determined by the type, styles and metal colours of the buttons, buttonholes and of the embroidery. In this case [painting offered here], there is a single row of gold embroidery (of the specific pattern for generals) edging the collar, cuffs and lapels, which is the distinction of general officers holding the rank of Mariscal de Campo. As noted, Casa-Calvo permanently received this rank in 1807, and his depiction here likely represents a brevet appointment to this higher position during his governorship of Louisiana. Casa-Calvo was known to delight in dress uniform and enjoy formal attire as befitting his rank and wealth. His uniform included a dark blue jacket faced with scarlet, matching scarlet breeches and ornately trimmed waistcoat, tricorn hat, walking stick and the key single row of gold embroidery on his jacket. Salazar notably depicted the insignia of the Order of Santiago on Casa-Calvos coat. The Order of Santiago, a quite distinguished designation, is a religious and military order that existed from the 12th through 19th centuries and was rarely awarded to those living outside of Spain. By the year 1771, Casa-Calvo had applied for the Order of Santiago, a lengthy process which required an official genealogy report on the five previous generations of the applicants ancestors, as well as a substantial fee and promised future military service. Casa-Calvo was awarded the order in 1772 by dispatch, allowing him to wear the Order of Santiago insignia. The Marqués de Casa-Calvo is the singularly known recipient of this order to have served in the Louisiana Spanish Colonial government. Salazars elegance of brushwork is evident in this portrait, particularly in the lace edging of the jabot and cuffs, strikingly similar to that of the lace trimmings in the artists portraits of Dr. Robert Dow, Charles Trudeau, and the Mendez family. The pose of the figure corresponds to a position of the subject in many Salazar portraits, with one hand tucked into the waistcoat, and Salazars characteristic use of red is on clear display in the sumptuous uniform. The level of detail and additional number of accessories often directly correlate to the importance of the sitter in Salazars work, and in this particular instance, they also would seem to have special meaning regarding Casa-Calvos role as governor at the time of the painting. The silver encrier ties to his role as a high-ranking government official and nobleman who engaged in lengthy correspondence to maintain his properties in Cuba and military position. Bishop Luis Ignacio Maria Peñalver y Cárdenas (to whom Casa-Calvo was related through his 1781 marriage to the Bishops niece, María Luisa Peñalver y Navarrete, a native of Havana) has a silver encrier among his effects in his Salazar portrait, while Dr. Robert Dow was similarly painted with a quill and volumes of books. In the painting presented here, the books to the left of the sitter on the lowest shelf appear to be a set of Reflexiones Militares, by Álvaro Navia Osorio, the Marqués de Santa Cruz de Marcenado published from 1724-1730. In this noteworthy portrait, Salazar created a lasting image of the affluence and nobility of the Marqués de Casa-Calvo, a multi-faceted individual who spent much of his life fighting to protect Spanish interests in the colonies and figured prominently in an era of historical trans-Atlantic travel and trade. Casa-Calvo devoted his life to military service while navigating in stylish fashion the delicate politics of Colonial and early American Louisiana. While devotedly Spanish in his origins, Casa-Calvo developed the makings of a true New Orleanian during his years in Louisiana, fully on display in an accounting of a public ball on January 8, 1804: American rowdiness had produced a great commotion when the newcomers demanded more of their own kind of quadrilles, and the new governor [Claiborne] had attempted futilely to quell the unrest. Meanwhile, Casa-Calvo with his natural savoir faire offered several alarmed ladies his protection and served them gumbo all the while he somehow continued playing cards. Ref.: Chartrand, René. Men-at-Arms: The Spanish Army in North America, 1700-1793. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2011; Din, Gilbert C. An Extraordinary Atlantic Life: Sebastián Nicolás Calvo de la Puerta y OFarrill, Marqués de Casa-Calvo. Lafayette: University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2016; Gontar, Cybèle, ed. Salazar: Portraits of Influence in Spanish New Orleans, 1785-1802. New Orleans: MPress Printing, 2018; Holmes, Jack D. L. The Marqués de Casa-Calvo, Nicolas de Finiels, and the 1805 Spanish Expedition through East Texas and Louisiana. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. Vol. 69, No. 3 (Jan., 1966), 324-339; Quintera, Gonzalo. Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Neal Auction Company would like to express their gratitude to Cybèle Gontar, René Chartrand, Gilbert Din, Jorge Auñón Prieto Calvo de la Puerta, and The Historic New Orleans Collection for their assistance with the research and cataloguing of this lot.
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