Santiago Rusiñol, Barcelona 1861-Aranjuez 1931

The charismatic leader of Catalan Modernism, and a founder of Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona, Rusiñol travelled widely and spent extended periods in Paris. Notwithstanding his position as a leading member of the international avant-garde, however, it was in Spain, away from the clamour of the Parisian metropolis, that he was able to explore the full range of his resonant palette and where many of his most powerful and evocative works were completed. It was in 1895, during a visit to Granada, that Rusiñol first discovered the beauty of landscape gardens, which henceforth became central to his oeuvre.

Painted in 1916, the present view is of Cuenca in Castilla-la-Mancha, a medieval town perched on a narrow plateau hemmed in by two deep gorges cut by the Júcar and Huécar rivers. Rusiñol's picture depicts the verdant landscaped banks of the Júcar looking towards the old town, whose houses, vying for space on the hill top, straddle the very edge of the plateau. As early as 1897-1900 Rusiñol had captured the steep-sided Huécar gorge and gardens on the other side of the town (fig.1), and the present work reflects his continuing fascination for the dramatic scenery offered by Cuenca and its environs.