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Lot Essay
In a letter dated 26 December 1944 the artist wrote to the picture's first owner:
'One June we were driving north in Spain to escape from an atrocious (to us) heat wave in Seville and Madrid and when nearing Burgos from Sepulveda ... I saw those big clumsy public-scales at a cross-roads near a village and some girls, very lightly clad, weighing each other (I should think just for fun) and skittering about. I confess to depicting them even more lightly clad than they really were. When I saw the group at the scales I thought 'What a thundering good subject!' but I was v. tired after a long run and could do no more than draw up for a few minutes and make a mental note. Next day I went back from Burgos and made a sketch of the scales - the girls were not there. The sketch was continually reminding me of the motif and when by chance appropriate models were available almost a year ago from now I enjoyed myself painting your oil'.
'One June we were driving north in Spain to escape from an atrocious (to us) heat wave in Seville and Madrid and when nearing Burgos from Sepulveda ... I saw those big clumsy public-scales at a cross-roads near a village and some girls, very lightly clad, weighing each other (I should think just for fun) and skittering about. I confess to depicting them even more lightly clad than they really were. When I saw the group at the scales I thought 'What a thundering good subject!' but I was v. tired after a long run and could do no more than draw up for a few minutes and make a mental note. Next day I went back from Burgos and made a sketch of the scales - the girls were not there. The sketch was continually reminding me of the motif and when by chance appropriate models were available almost a year ago from now I enjoyed myself painting your oil'.