Lot Essay
A sketch for one of Sorolla's greatest works Triste Herencia of 1899.
The tragic subject of crippled children bathing off the Cabairal beach, Valencia, under the supervision of a monk from the Order of San Juan de Dios, won Sorolla the greatest official acclaim of his career.
When Triste Herencia was exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, Sorolla won the Grand Prix and the Medal of Honour; he was awarded another Medal of Honour at the National Exhibition in Madrid in 1901.
Edmund Peel argues that this picture marked a turning point in Sorolla's career, as from 1899 he never painted again to provoke social conscience and with that he ended his career as a salon artist. 'But, painted at the same time, was the series of preparatory sketches for Triste Herencia, some of which are amongst the most luminous, brilliant and freely handled works he had produced so far and the clearest indication of what was to be expected from his brush in future' (The Painter Joaquin Sorolla, exhibition catalogue, p. 219)
Several of the preliminary sketches for Triste Herencia are dedicated to contemporary artists. The first sketch was given to the American artist, William Merritt Chase, in 1906 when in Paris, and this sketch is inscribed to John Singer Sargent, 1903
The tragic subject of crippled children bathing off the Cabairal beach, Valencia, under the supervision of a monk from the Order of San Juan de Dios, won Sorolla the greatest official acclaim of his career.
When Triste Herencia was exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, Sorolla won the Grand Prix and the Medal of Honour; he was awarded another Medal of Honour at the National Exhibition in Madrid in 1901.
Edmund Peel argues that this picture marked a turning point in Sorolla's career, as from 1899 he never painted again to provoke social conscience and with that he ended his career as a salon artist. 'But, painted at the same time, was the series of preparatory sketches for Triste Herencia, some of which are amongst the most luminous, brilliant and freely handled works he had produced so far and the clearest indication of what was to be expected from his brush in future' (The Painter Joaquin Sorolla, exhibition catalogue, p. 219)
Several of the preliminary sketches for Triste Herencia are dedicated to contemporary artists. The first sketch was given to the American artist, William Merritt Chase, in 1906 when in Paris, and this sketch is inscribed to John Singer Sargent, 1903