Pablo Picasso, Attributed/ Manner of: Self Portrait

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) Attributed/ Manner of: Self Portrait. Oil on canvas. signed upper right, unframed.

A note from the collector: This was a purchase many decades ago by a collector in the Princeton, New Jersey area while visiting Spain. The purchase took place at the infamous El Encants Market in Barcelona, Spain in the 1960s. The origins of that marketplace date historically to the 1300s.
Picasso's friend, Angel Fernandez de Soto, was the subject of the famous 1903 oil on canvas known as "The Absinthe Drinker" painted during Picasso's Blue Period.
This portrait exhibits the same haunting characteristic as does the 1903 Absinthe Drinker. Both the fleur-de-lis and the similarity of the formal wear by the subject and that of Fernandez de Soto are almost certainly meant to project an aura of aristocracy and 'men of means' at a time when Picasso and his circle of close friends were broke most of the time, they got by any way they could. For example, without money for prostitutes, Picasso painted murals on the brothel walls as "payment" in exchange for their services.
This piece exhibits clear evidence that the central canvas containing the portrait has been cut from and mounted to a supporting canvas, and a poorly executed attempt to 'blend' the merging of the cut canvas to the supporting canvas. Both canvases exhibit signs of considerable age.
Upon the death of the purchaser of this piece, the portrait proved to be a divisive element within the family with regards to next steps and perceived value. At some point it was determined to best be sold at a private treaty sale which is how I took ownership of it, to memory, perhaps 2003/4. It's a most interesting and intriguing piece with the inner canvas containing both the signature and portrait worthy of further efforts.