Joaquín Sorolla

Estate of the artist
Elena Sorolla García (the artist's daughter)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Valencia, Homenaje a Sorolla, 1944
Madrid, Casón del Buen Retiro, I Centenario del Nacimiento de Sorolla, 1963, no. 111

Bernardino de Pantorba, La vida y obra de Joaquín Sorolla, Madrid, 1970, no. 859, illustrated
Blanca Pons-Sorolla, Joaquín Sorolla. Vida y obra, Madrid, 2001,  no. 257. p. 433, illustrated
Felipe Garín y Facundo Tomás, Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), Madrid, 2006, pp.175-176, discussed; p. 178, pl. 40, illustrated

Original canvas, the artist's original horizontal canvas joins are evident at the top and bottom of the composition, as visible in the catalogue illustration. Not retouched, this work is in excellent original condition. The colours are slightly fresher in reality; the background greys and ochres are not as opaque in reality.
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Painted circa 1914-15, Sorolla's informal portrayal of two local Sevillian girls, one leaning against the outside wall of a building, the other glimpsed seated on the threshold to its interior, is one of four portraits of local girls Sorolla completed while working on the representations of Andalucia and Seville for the Visions of Spain cycle.

The subjects Sorolla chose to represent Seville in the Visions cycle, commissioned by Archer M Huntington to decorate the Hispanic Society of America in New York, are among the most dramatic, elaborate and carefully staged of the series. They include Seville, Holy Week Penitents; Seville, The Dance, and Seville, The Bullfighters. In contrast to such highly stylised subjects the present work, together with the others that he completed as a distraction from the larger project, exude a refreshing spontaneity. 

Depicting the girls in traditional Sevillian costumes, off centre against the flat background of the wall, Sorolla restricts his palette largely to soft greys and ochre, with the exception of the dramatic contrast between the dark swaithe of the standing girl's long black scarf and the firey dash of red around the neck of the girl seated.  

Discussing the informality of these works by Sorolla, and describing the potency of the Sevillanas in particular Garín and Tomás observe:

'There are a number of feminine types of which several are of Andalusian women painted in Seville during his trip to work on the big canvases for the Hispanic Society project. Four of these paintings stand out. Two of them with one figure, and the other two each with a pair of figures [...] Particularly interesting are the two canvases with the two figures as they suggest the sensuality of women of the streets [...]

'In Sevillanas [the present work] the young girl standing challenges the viewer with her gaze. Both figures are outside a door, their eyes searching those of whoever passes. The standing girl has a wide smile, the gaze of the one seated is a mixture of contempt and curiosity. Both figures are outlined on the wall of a house divided into two bands of colour, the top band a strong yellow. The Sorollesque colour explodes in the dresses. The skirt of the figure in the foreground, and the beautiful pink stain that is the shirt of the other girl, accentuated by the powerful red scarf offer the full spectrum of hues. During the months of March and April 1914 Sorolla was in one of his best moments.'  (Felipe Garín & Facundo Tomás, Joaquín Sorolla, Madrid 2006, pp. 174-176 - translated from the Spanish).   

Andalusia, and particularly Seville, had long been a subject of fascination for Sorolla. He had made frequent visits to the province and the city, and had based the design of the garden for his house and studio in Madrid on the theme of a Sevillian courtyard.