In this report, thanks to a family file, we can show the house of Emilio Huart and his wife Renée Arquís in some photos taken in the middle of the 20th century. It was one of the houses that housed one of the best collections of paintings, porcelains and furniture from Cádiz.
Emilio Huart Toupet, of Belgian origin, was born at the end of the 19th century and came to Cádiz to work in the consignee of ships of the Arquís family. Eventually he married his daughter Renée Arquís Grosós, a French resident in Cádiz. And after the years he bought 50 percent of the business from his sister-in-law Ida Susana Arquís Grosós, eventually having offices in Cádiz, Seville and Lisbon.
He continued the business in a very flourishing time in Cádiz until October 1, 1971, when he passed away. He held the position of consul of France, Belgium and Denmark. Was a passionate about collecting of works of art, dedicating his entire life to buying porcelain, sculptures, furniture paintings, carvings and other piecesMany of his works of art were acquired in Portugal. It was very friend of the painters of the moment, What Gustavo Bacarisas, Francisco Prieto, Alfonso Grosso and Romero Ressendi.
His family home was located in the Plaza de San Antonio at number 3, which he acquired in 1951 and kept the distribution of bourgeois house with a central patio and three heights. On the ground floor was the patio that communicated with him office, offices and garage, which overlooked the back street. On the first floor were the reception rooms, the library, the dinning room and one service part. In the second, the owners bedroom, which had a cabinet, and the guest bedrooms. The third floor was intended for service and to rooms where silver, crockery, rugs, and linens were kept.
The decoration of the house reflects the collector spirit of its owner. The patio, in its central part, was occupied by a copper that rests on a stone capital. In this patio a San Antonio table, indispensable piece of furniture in the decoration of the Cadiz patios of that time.
Among its pieces stands out a carving that represents a Immaculate 18th century, Hispanic-Filipino , with ivory hands and faces. The dining room was one of the most frequented places in the house, and where every day they received guests, some illustrious, such as King Leopold III of Belgium or French Marshal Petain. This space was illuminated with a great La Granja lamp, from the time of Charles IV, together with the best collection of the Company of the Indies that was in that period in Cádiz. On its walls hang paintings of Gustavo Bacarisas.
The room was another of the most frequented places and where large gatherings were held. An important painting of the lady of the house, Renée Arquís, Painted by Alfonso Grosso, occupies one of the central walls of said room. On its sides, some showcases with a collection of Meissen porcelain and the Buen Retiro, placing a Fernandino sofa in the central part.
In the hall there was a painting, with a nunnery theme, by Alfonso Grosso, next to two paintings by Martínez Cubells and a portrait of Gonzalo Bilbao. On top of one of the Carlos IV dressers, there was a beautiful 18th century Belgian biscuit, accompanied by a couple of Jacob Petti porcelain.
The receiver It was the place where the family portraits next to a landscape of the Sevillana School. In this space there is a French clock that rests on one of the French dressers in the house and in the same room, a 18th century red lacquered Chinese boureau.
All the flooring in the house was marble, combining the white and gray floors of the patio with the larger white marble floors in the reception rooms. Currently much of the art gallery is kept by his heirs, who are at this moment in conversations to deposit it in an institution Cadiz.
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