JOAQUÍN SOROLLA Y BASTIDA (Valencia, 1863 - Cercedilla,... Lot 95

JOAQUÍN SOROLLA Y BASTIDA (Valencia, 1863 - Cercedilla, Madrid, 1923) "Burial in the Catacombs", Rome, 1885. Oil on canvas. Signed, initialed and dedicated "Al Sr. D. Francisco Pradilla / su muy afmo / J Sorolla" in the lower right corner. Provenance: Collection of the painter Francisco Pradilla, Director of the Spanish School in Rome. Attached certificate of authenticity signed by Blanca Pons Sorolla. Work referenced in the catalog raisonné with the number BPS107. Measurements: 55 x 78 cm; 76 x 100 cm (frame). With the dedication "To Mr. D. Francisco Pradilla / his very affectionate / J Sorolla" is demonstrated the esteem that Pradilla and Sorolla had for each other, a friendship still evident thanks to the correspondence preserved between the two artists. During the years that Francisco Pradilla was Director of the Spanish School in Rome, Joaquín Sorolla was awarded a scholarship by the Diputación de Valencia in that city. Sorolla would always remember Francisco Pradilla (1848-1921) as a key figure in his training. In his own words: "When I arrived in Rome, Pradilla took me in; I had to use his blind love for the beauty of line, and he knew how to instill it in me. It really helped me a lot. As he encouraged a restless spirit within me, he tempered and confronted my rebellious impetuosity in those days". "Burial in the Catacombs" was painted during his stay in Rome, where, while working, Sorolla got to know classical and Renaissance art, as well as the great museums, and also made contact with other artists. The work, which already denotes the impressionist style that would characterize the Valencian artist's entire career, can be related to other canvases from the same Roman period, such as "The Burial of Christ" (1886-1887), a work presented at the National Exhibition of 1887 criticized for paying more attention to the light of the sunset than to the sacred drama. Unfortunately, the work, which was destroyed by Sorolla in a fit of rage because of the criticism he received, has not been preserved. There is only a small preparatory sketch and four fragments that were recovered in 1979 from the basements of the Sorolla Museum. 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