Portrait of Fabian de Castro, El Gyptano

Fabian de Castro was a Spanish gypsy, musician and painter who knew Augustus John between the years 1905-1920. In John's autobiography Chiaroscuro, published in 1952, John explains the reason for the title of the present lot, 'I met ... a gypsy guitarist, Fabian de Castro, El Gyptano, as he signed his pictures, for he was now a painter too' (A. John, Chiaroscuro, London, 1952, p. 88). John also mentions him in discussion about gypsies, 'According to my Gitano friend, Fabian de Castro, "Anyone can see by looking at us that we are descended from the Pharoahs" (Fabian's own countenance hardly bore out this statement)' (op. cit., pp. 61-2).