Ignacio Zuloaga

IGNACIO ZULOAGA Y ZABALETA (Eibar, Guipuzcoa, 1870 - Madrid, 1945).
"The Devotee".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
It presents label of Barrachina i Ramoneda on the back.
Measurements: 95 x 56,5 cm; 118 x 80 cm (frame).

Ignacio Zuloaga excelled in individual portraits, focusing on showing the character, in X-raying the soul. In the representation of this devout personage, with his head bowed before the cross, the painter's determination to sacrifice subtleties and superfluous ornaments in order to focus on the compassionate and withdrawn expression is clearly manifested. He achieves this with an energetic stroke of great expressive vigor. The stern features, the moustache, the thick eyebrows, the dark complexion... compose an elusive and at the same time truthful portrait. A representation of Christ recumbent with the Virgin places us inside a church.

Son of the notable damascene artist Plácido Zuloaga, and nephew of Daniel Zuloaga, one of the most outstanding Spanish ceramists of his time, Ignacio Zuloaga worked as a child in his father's workshop, where he had his first contact with drawing and engraving. He later began studying engineering, but abandoned his studies to devote himself to painting. He acquired his artistic training at the Prado Museum, copying Ribera, Goya, Velázquez and El Greco, of whom he would be one of the first propagators. In 1887 he presented a painting at the National Exhibition in Madrid, entitled "A priest praying in an old room". After a first trip to Rome in 1889, where he imbibed the Renaissance masters, Zuloaga went to Paris, where he met French artists such as M. Dethomas and Rodin, with whom he became great friends. He also met Miguel Utrillo and Santiago Rusiñol, and with the latter he traveled again to Italy. In Paris he came to practice pointillism and impressionism, and participated in some group exhibitions at the gallery Le Bar de Boutteville, frequented by the symbolists. However, the search for his own roots took him to Andalusia, where he spent some time between 1894 and 1897. In the latter year, in Segovia, he painted "My uncle and my cousins", a painting that he presented at the Paris Salon and which was acquired by the French State. In 1898 he married and settled in Madrid, although he made frequent trips to the French capital. The following year he presented his "Family Portrait" at the Paris Salon, which was also acquired by the French Government. From 1903 onwards he took part in international exhibitions and his fame grew. Between 1906 and 1913 he worked in Segovia, attracted by the austerity of the Castilian landscape and the quiet and humble dignity of its inhabitants, influenced by the ideology of the Generation of '98. In 1908 he was invited to present an exhibition in New York. At the outbreak of World War I he returned to the Basque Country and lived in a 12th century monastery in Zumaya (Guipúzcoa), later converted into a museum, where he installed his rich collection of works of art, including paintings by El Greco and Goya. Such was his admiration for the Aragonese master that he even bought his birthplace in Fuendetodos. Likewise, in 1926 he acquired the castle of Pedraza (Segovia), also converted into a museum. Ignacio Zuloaga is today considered, together with Gutiérrez Solana, the continuator of the tradition of Spanish painting throughout the 20th century. He is currently represented in prominent museums such as the Prado (works attached to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía), as well as in others around the world such as the Orsay, the Rodin and the National de Versailles in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan in New York, the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, among others.