Lot Essay
Ignacio Zuloaga was mainly known for the portraits which he painted of his friends and the European aristocracy. Towards the end of the Nineteenth Century, however, the artist, influenced by the literary movement Generacion 98, started to paint typical Spanish themes and subjects.
Spanish towns, particularly in Aragon and Castilla, have been the subject of many of Zuloaga's pictures. Throughout his artistic career, his special affection for Toledo is revealed in his repeated depiction of the town. Sometimes, as in Alcazar de Toledo, it is the main subject of the picture and, in others, as the background for portraits, for example in The Portrait of Maurice Barrés, the author of El Greco o el secreto de Toledo, painted in 1913.
Zuloaga's passion for Toledo is recorded by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, who studied the oeuvre of the artist : 'I long for and persevere, the strength, the rough and even the bitter, manifesting themselves in contrasts that captivate me. Because of this I love Castilla so much; it has given me luminosity and twilight; strong, contrasting blues, yellows and scarlets in comparison to the greys in the vague distance, those are the prime elements of the unique integral landscapes that have perpetuated my palette'.
El Alcazar de Toledo is an exceptional example of the views of Toledo which fully reflects the artist's feelings for Spain's oldest town.
Spanish towns, particularly in Aragon and Castilla, have been the subject of many of Zuloaga's pictures. Throughout his artistic career, his special affection for Toledo is revealed in his repeated depiction of the town. Sometimes, as in Alcazar de Toledo, it is the main subject of the picture and, in others, as the background for portraits, for example in The Portrait of Maurice Barrés, the author of El Greco o el secreto de Toledo, painted in 1913.
Zuloaga's passion for Toledo is recorded by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, who studied the oeuvre of the artist : 'I long for and persevere, the strength, the rough and even the bitter, manifesting themselves in contrasts that captivate me. Because of this I love Castilla so much; it has given me luminosity and twilight; strong, contrasting blues, yellows and scarlets in comparison to the greys in the vague distance, those are the prime elements of the unique integral landscapes that have perpetuated my palette'.
El Alcazar de Toledo is an exceptional example of the views of Toledo which fully reflects the artist's feelings for Spain's oldest town.