Lot 207: FERNANDO ÁLVAREZ DE SOTOMAYOR, EL FERRROL 1875-MADRID 1960

SIGNED AND DATED (MAKER'S MARKS)
signed Sotomayor l.r.

129.3 by 108.2 cm., 51 by 42 1/2 in.

oil on canvas

Barcelona, Palacio de Dalmases, Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, 1946, no. 30 (entitled Misa de Aldea)

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

Purchased from the artist by the parents of the present owner circa 1946

Painted circa 1946, the present work is one of Sotomayor´s most panoptic views of the interior of the church in Buño in his native Galicia. Observed from an elevated position, possibly from the pulpit or lectern immediately in front and to the right of the altar, Sotomayor depicts a sea of local faces. The priest is shown in the background, venerating a carving of St. Filomena, while the foreground is occupied by the ruddy complexions of the rural congregation.

A pupil of the history painter and portraitist, Manuel Domínguez y Sánchez, Sotomayor studied in Madrid at the San Fernando Academy. At the age of 24 he travelled to Rome, France and Holland. With a gathering reputation as a young artist of note, on a visit to his native Galicia in 1905 his interest in the region was re-awakened. Thereafter his work centred on the essential truths to be found in the local communities, the moral strength of the people with whom he came into contact and the beauty of the local landscape.

In 1907 he travelled to Chile where he became director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Santiago, a post that he retained until 1911. In 1929 he was appointed Director of the Prado, and thereafter Director of the Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid.

To be included in the catalogue raisonné on the artist being prepared by the Museo de Pontevedra and the Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza in La Coruña.

We are grateful to Sra. María Rosario Álvarez de Sotomayor, the artist's daughter, for her assistance in the cataloguing of this work.