The Hueca Valley, Cuenca, Spain

Inspired by an engraving of Cuenca from a previous trip to Spain, David Bomberg and his wife Lilian travelled to the ancient town, perched on a ridge in Spain's arid and rocky central plateau, in the summer of 1934. The town's exceptionally dramatic location suited the artist perfectly and he produced a series of powerful landscapes. Richard Cork (David Bomberg, London, 1987, p. 203) writes: 'Cuenca, built on a high ridge of rock with rivers on each side, is a dramatic sight. Bomberg regained the old sense of excitement as he approached it, in a painting called The Road to the City, Cuenca [private collection], where the brushstrokes are applied like driving strokes of rain. Cuenca was an ancient settlement, and Bomberg honoured its sense of history by renting a house for the equivalent of 30p a week in the old part of the city near the cathedral. As in Toledo and Palestine, he painted outdoors as frequently as possible. From the end of his garden there was a precipitous descent to the valley below'.