POCKET WATCH PRESENTED BY DR. HUERTAS TO THE PAINTER FRANCI

NATIONAL WATCH COMPANY saboneta-style pocket watch, made in Switzerland around 1900 - serial number 4881 - with a manual mechanical movement, equipped with a minute-chiming complication. It is presented in an 18 kt yellow gold case with guilloche engraving of concentric rhombuses and a smooth shield with a reserve for initials; engraved decoration around the perimeter with plant and floral motifs, the latter finishing off the crest with a fleur-de-lis. White enamel dial on convex copper with black enamel Arabic numerals, Louis XVI style brass hands, seconds sub-dial at 6 o'clock with a cowhide hand and original slightly convex crystal. The watch was a gift from Dr. Huertas Barrero - physician to the Royal Household, to personalities such as Sagasta, Maura and introducer of aspirin in Spain - to the illustrious painter Francisco Pradilla - one of the most outstanding figures in the Spanish artistic scene of the 19th century, director of the Prado Museum and author of important paintings such as Juana La Loca or La rendicion de Granada. In 1898 the painter gave his doctor and father-in-law a self-portrait dedicated: "To his dear friend and doctor Francisco Huertas. Franco Pradilla Madrid 1898". In return, the doctor gave Pradilla the aforementioned clock. The canvas, currently kept in the Museum of Zaragoza and named, was made in 1887, the date present in the lower left corner with the inscription: "Study-test of Mussini-Farbe resinous colours made in A. 1887". Provenance: - Doctor Don Francisco Huertas - Francisco Pradilla - Descendants of the painter to the present Exhibition and bibliography: VV.AA., PRADILLA. Francisco Pradilla (1848-1921). More than a painter of history, Culture and Sports of the Madrid City Council, Madrid, 2023, p. 131, cat. 6. Reference bibliography: RINCON GARCIA, Wifredo, "Self-portraits of Francisco Pradilla. Regarding the one preserved in the Museum of Zaragoza", in From amphorae to the museum. Studies dedicated to Miguel Beltran Lloris, FERNANDO EL CATOLICO INSTITUTION of theExcma. Diputacion de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, pp.756-757. Accompanied by a study carried out by Prof. Dr. Jose Daniel Barquero Cabrero, Executive President of the International Museum of Fine Pocket Watchmaking.