Joaquin Sorolla

JOAQUÍN SOROLLA Y BASTIDA (Valencia, 1863 - Cercedilla, Madrid, 1923).
"La santera", 1890.
Watercolor on paper.
Attached certificate of authenticity issued by Doña Blanca Sorolla Pons.
Work referenced in "The life and work of Joaquín Sorolla. Biographical and critical study", Madrid, 1953 by Bernardino de Pantorba.
-Exhibition of pastels and watercolors of the year 1890", La Ilustración española y Americana, Madrid, March 15, 1891.
-Catalog of the exhibition Sorolla. Torment and devotion". Sorolla Museum, Madrid, 2021-2022, p. 132.
It has damage to the frame.
Signed, dated and initialed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 54 x 39 cm; 78 x 63 cm (frame).

Watercolor painted by Joaquín Sorolla at 27 years of age, prior to the development of his luminist style as can be seen by the absence of the usual force that has the light in his paintings. This costumbrista scene denotes the academicist influence of his training, as can be seen in the choice of the subject, as well as in the attempt of realism and preciosity in the details. The composition of intimate character represents a santera lighting a candle that illuminates a triptych with the image of the virgin in the center and family coats of arms on the side panels. As we have mentioned before, in this scene there is not the usual Sorolla's light, but it is practically a zenithal light that, nevertheless, with the capture of the space and the atmosphere, already allows us to intuit the best of Sorolla. Following the line of costumbrismo, the Valencian roots of the artist are observed in two aspects, on the one hand, with the representation of the tilework, typically Valencian, with an enhanced baseboard that reaches almost to the shoulders of the woman, and the clothing of the same, with clothes that could be very Valencian style. He used to paint this type of small works so that later his dealer, Francisco Jover, could sell them due to the great demand they had.

Already in his school days, Joaquín Sorolla showed his fondness for drawing and painting, attending the drawing classes given by the sculptor Cayetano Capuz in the School of Artisans in the afternoons. Awarded upon finishing his preliminary studies at the Escuela Normal Superior, he entered the prestigious Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Carlos in Valencia in 1879. Also, during his visits to Madrid in 1881 and 1882, he copied paintings by Velázquez, Ribera and El Greco at the Prado Museum. Two years later he obtained a great success at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts with a history painting, which stimulated him to apply for a scholarship to study at the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Having achieved his goal, in 1885 Sorolla left for Rome, staying in Paris for several months before arriving. In the French capital he was impressed by the paintings of the realists and the painters who worked outdoors. At the end of his years in Rome he returned to Valencia in 1889, settling in Madrid the following year. In 1892 Sorolla showed a new concern in his art, becoming interested in social problems by depicting the sad scene of "¡Otra Margarita!", awarded a first class medal at the National, and the following year at the International in Chicago. This sensitivity would remain in his work until the end of the decade, in his performances on the Valencian coast. Gradually, however, the Valencian master will abandon the themes of unhappy children that we see in "Triste herencia", which had been awarded a prize at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900 and at the National in Madrid a year later. Encouraged by the success of his resplendent images of the Mediterranean, and stimulated by his love of the light and life of its sunny beaches, he focused on these scenes in his works, more cheerful and pleasant, with which he would achieve international fame. In 1906 he held his first individual exhibition at the George Petit Gallery in Paris, where he also demonstrated his skills as a portraitist. In 1908 the American Archer Milton Huntington, impressed by the artist's exhibition at the Grafton Gallery in London, sought to acquire two of his works for his Hispanic Society. A year later he himself invited Sorolla to exhibit at his institution, resulting in an exhibition in 1909 that was a huge success. The relationship between Huntington and Sorolla led to the most important commission of the painter's life: the creation of the immense canvases destined to illustrate, on the walls of the Hispanic Society, the regions of Spain. Trying to capture the essence of the lands and people of his country, Sorolla traveled throughout Spain between 1911 and 1919, while continuing to hold exhibitions. Incapacitated by an attack of hemiplegia in 1921, Sorolla died two years later, without seeing his great "Vision of Spain", which would not be installed until 1926. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum and the one that bears his name in Madrid, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao and Valencia, the National Portrait Gallery in London and many others.