Joaquín Sorolla

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 1953
Schweitzer Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner in 1958

Madrid, Palacio de las Artes e Industrias, Exposición General de Bellas Artes, 1899, no. 811
Paris, Pavillon Espagnole, Exposition Universelle, 1900, no. 95
Madrid, Palacio de las Artes e Industrias, Expósicion General de Bellas Artes, 1901

Joaquín Sorolla, exh. cat., Madrid, 2009, p. 260, fig. 173, illustrated

Original canvas. There is retouching in the upper-left corner of the sky, some minor areas in the sky to the right of the tree, a few in the leaves to the right, and some very minor spots in the lower-left corner. Overall this work is in good original condition, and is ready to hang.
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Painted in June 1898 in Jávea. Sorolla had first visited Jávea two years before on his own when he had been overcome by the beauty of the location. Writing to his wife Clotilde at the time he eulogised: 'this - Jávea - has everything I desire and more, if you could see what I have in front of my little house you couldn't find words to praise it, I am left speechless by the emotion that still consumes me' (quoted in Blanca Pons-Sorolla, Joaquín Sorolla, London, 2005, p. 102).

Given these sentiments it is little surprise that on his return in 1898 he brought Clotilde and his three children. The sense of tranquility he experienced at Jávea is clearly evident in the present work. Fortunyesque in its striking horizontal format, the flat sea, the disinterest of the sheep and goats as they cluster at the base of the tree, and the protective arching of the trees' branches evoke an image of bucholic charm.

In the recent retrospective of Sorolla's work at the Prado, Javier Barón refers to the present painting together with a view of the small cove at Jávea (fig. 1) as examples of the first pure landscapes that Sorolla painted (Joaquín Sorolla, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2009, exh. cat., p. 260, discussed). And it is clear that the artist treasured both works, as he selected them for inclusion in the principal exhibitions in which he participated in the following years. 

Despite the serenity of the work, however, the conditions in which Sorolla painted the Jávea coast that summer were not straightforward. The Spanish-American war was at its height, and the Civil Guard forbade Sorolla to paint certain strategic locations in the area, forcing him to seek permission and interrupting his days behind the easel.

fig. 1: Joaquín Sorolla, La pequeña cala, Jávea (The Small Cove, Jávea), 1898, Private Collection