On the balcony

Country: Spain

Manufactory: Lladro

Date of establishment: 1998

Sculptor: Francisco Polope

Size (cm): 50*39

Limited Series

Porcelain Story

It was back in those ancient times when smoking was allowed on planes, and Dynamo Kiev smashed the formidable Barcelona in the Champions League with a score of 3:0 and 4:0. Once again, as part of a group of journalists, having flown with Dynamo to Spain for the match with Real Madrid (Madrid), I went to wander the streets of the Spanish capital in search of the works of the famous Valencian porcelain manufactory Lladro, which I so adore.

It didn't take long to search. Not far from the hotel in which we stayed, there was a branded boutique of this famous brand. And right in his window was the work that you are now considering. I must say that in Lladro products, sculptors often use scenes drawn from paintings by famous artists. And this porcelain "rehash" of long-familiar paintings every time arouses delight - with its unique refinement of the details of the work, a sense of the porcelain authenticity of the plot, and even the transfer of the mood of the heroes of the composition.

I immediately felt like I had seen this story somewhere before. Maybe in the legendary Prado Museum in Madrid, which we had visited before and which later we visited more than once with my wife and children. In this museum, I really liked the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya. It seemed that I could stand in front of the paintings of these artists for an eternity, trying to unravel the deep philosophical meanings laid down by the authors in the bizarre plots of their works. And certainly eternity would not be enough for this. So, among the works of Goya, dedicated to young beauties - "Mach naked", "Mach dressed", "Mach and the bawd on the balcony", there is another picture called "Machs on the Balcony". The plot of the porcelain composition reminded me of this particular picture. Although, as it turned out later, it had nothing to do with the Prado Museum. It was written in the early 1800s and eventually migrated to the private collection of Edmond de Rothschild. And I was lucky to see this picture “live” much later - already in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ...

Be that as it may, the porcelain composition was purchased and safely delivered to the hotel. But, knowing about the strict rules for carrying bulky items on airplanes, I immediately refused a large branded box. And I went to the airport, carrying in hands a fragile work, carefully wrapped in special plastic packaging. As expected, even in this form, the porcelain work could not pass the examination through a special device that shines through the luggage of passengers. It simply did not pass through the frame of this device. Long quarrels with airport security officers boiled down to their insistent demand that the rare work should be checked in or even left “in storage” in Madrid in order to “sometime later” pick it up. It was a dead end.

Everything turned out amazingly. The shift supervisor who came up to the noise turned out to be a fan of Lladro porcelain. And, having learned that I collect works of this particular manufactory, she ordered her subordinates to remove the metal frame of the device, which, in the end, allowed the cargo to be "enlightened" and to obtain permission for its further transportation. I was ready to kiss this woman...

By the way, I remembered this old story because the 275th anniversary of Francisco Goya was recently celebrated. And, looking at this beautiful work of the Spanish masters, I am doubly pleased to enjoy both the plot created by the great artist and its porcelain “version”, born from the imagination of the Valencian sculptors. And I really want you to feel the same...