King Alfonso XIII in hussar uniform
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| King Alfonso XIII in hussar uniform |
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| Joaquín Sorolla , 1907 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 208 × 108.5 cm |
| Property of the Spanish King |
King Alfonso XIII in hussar uniform (Spanish: Retrato del Rey don Alfonso XIII con uniforme de Húsares ) is a portrait of the painter Joaquín Sorolla . He created the painting in 1907 on behalf of the Spanish King Alfonso XIII. in the park of the summer residence La Granja de San Ildefonso . The picture, painted in oil on canvas, has a height of 208 cm and a width of 108.5 cm. It shows the king as a life-size portrait in the uniform of a hussar in the colorful and light-flooded style of Spanish impressionism . The painting is in the possession of the Spanish king .
Image description
The painting, created in 1907, shows the Spanish King Alfonso XIII. as a life-size portrait in vertical format. The 21-year-old monarch stands with his left leg in front of his right leg, facing the viewer frontally. His face is fair complexion, his open eyes look straight ahead. He wears his brown hair in a short parting hairstyle that leaves the ears free. The king has put his right hand on his hip, his left hand, he relies on the handle of a sword , which with Portepee provided vagina reaches down to the ground.
Alfonso XIII wears the uniform of the cavalry of the Regimiento de Húsares de Pavía . This includes the red jacket called Dolman , under which a white shirt pokes out on the collar and right sleeve. On the left shoulder is the blue pelisse with a collar and lining made of black fur. The blue uniform trousers go with it. She is in polished black riding boots, which include silver spurs . The colorful uniform is provided with numerous golden buttons and decorated with elaborate trimmings and braids that were embroidered with gold threads on the textiles. Furthermore, a red cummerbund is tied around the waist , the ends of which, falling on the left side, are decorated with gold tassels . The king bears no visible signs of his office. On the other hand, there are numerous medals and decorations on Dolman and Pelisse. Alfons XIII wears the only jewelry. the wedding ring on the left ring finger , a reference to the previous wedding with the British Princess Victoria Eugénie .
Sorolla portrayed the king in the park of the summer residence La Granja de San Ildefonso. He stands on a sandy surface that is sketched with noticeably coarse brushstrokes, while the king himself was worked out with much finer brushstrokes. Behind him, a dark green hedge separates the foreground from the wider parking area. There are dense trees there, with the individual slender tree trunks being cut from the upper edge of the picture. In between there is dense foliage in shades of green and yellow, which suggests late summer was the time when the picture was created.
Although the sky itself is not visible, sunlight plays an important role in the picture. On the leaves of the trees, on the ground in the foreground, on the clothes, the boots, on the face and on the hands of the king - there are light reflections everywhere, which in the painting point to the bright light of the sun. In addition, the luminosity of the uniform colors in particular is only possible through intense daylight. The picture is signed and dated “J. Sorolla B. 1907 San Ildefonso ”. Sorolla seems to have been very satisfied with his painting and noted accordingly: "está muy guapete con su magnifico traje de húsares de Pavia, arrogantemente colocado y muy español que es lo que yo queria" (analogously: He is very good-looking with his magnificent uniform of the Pavia Hussars, great placed and very Spanish the way I wanted it ).
The portrait of a king
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Portrait painting has a long tradition at the Spanish court and is known for numerous masterpieces that are not only historical but also art historical. Examples of this are the paintings of Emperor Charles V after the Battle of Mühlberg by Titian , Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez and The Family of Charles IV by Francisco de Goya . Sorolla certainly knew these works from his visits to the Museo del Prado in Madrid and was aware of this painterly tradition in his own portraits of members of the royal family. Sorolla painted his first portrait of the Spanish court as early as 1890, when he took over the commission from the late painter Francisco Jover to complete the painting Queen Maria Christina swears by the constitution . The picture, which was only completed in 1897, shows Queen María Cristina being sworn in before the Spanish Senate after her husband King Alfonso XII. Died in 1895. Your son Alfonso XIII. was not born at the time. She took over government until his 16th birthday. Sorolla's second important work at the Spanish court was the double portrait of Queen María Cristina with her son Alfonso XIII, created in 1901. as a traditional ruler portrait in the throne room of the Madrid Royal Palace .
Alfonso XIII In 1907, Sorolla commissioned two individual portraits depicting the King and Queen Victoria Eugénie. At that time Sorolla was a respected portrait painter who not only enjoyed success in Spain, but also received great recognition in Paris in 1906, for example. In 1907 extensive exhibitions of his works followed in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne. Sorolla initially intended to accompany the exhibitions in Germany, but decided to stay in Spain because his daughter Mariá was sick with tuberculosis. To recover, the family initially stayed at Finca La Angorilla in El Pardo , north of Madrid, and Sorolla spent the summer with his wife and children in San Ildefonso . Here he created a series of family portraits as well as some views of the parks of La Granja. In addition, Sorolla had the opportunity in San Ildefonso to paint the portraits of the king and queen that had been ordered. Since the queen, as a young mother, was only available to a limited extent for portrait sessions, Sorolla was only able to make an oil sketch of her on site. Her commissioned portrait was only created in 1908 when Sorolla visited Seville.
Sorolla painted the portrait of King Alfonso XIII. in hussar uniform in the gardens of the summer residence of La Granja. A photograph by José Demaría López shows the king in his uniform standing in front of Sorolla, who had set up his canvas in the open air in the park. This open-air painting became known primarily through the French impressionist painters, even if other painters had already moved their studio outdoors. Sorolla had also adopted the colorful palette from the Impressionists and further developed its lighting. This style of painting and the almost natural posture of the king were very unusual for a state portrait. Although Diego Velázquez had also portrayed the king in a landscape in his portrait of Philip IV as a hunter (around 1632–1634), the portrait appears much more serious and less spontaneous. The portraits of the king by other artists who appeared before Sorolla's King Alfonso XIII also appear very formal . originated in hussar uniform . Portraits of the king in traditional poses come from the painters José Díaz Molina (1903) and Luis Menéndez Pidal (1905).
Diego Velázquez:
Philip IV. As a hunter
around 1632–1634
José Díaz Molina:
Portrait of King Alfonso XIII. , 1903
Luis Menéndez Pidal:
Portrait of King Alfonso XIII. , 1905
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In his portrait of King Alfonso XIII. in a hussar uniform , Sorolla did not follow Spanish models in her painting style. Instead, his portrait shows a lively style of painting with an emphasis on the vertical and stylization of the figure, as it was known primarily from Paris at the turn of the century. There, artists such as the Italian Giovanni Boldini , the American John Singer Sargent and the French Antonio de la Gandara painted portraits in a similar way. Sorolla knew their works from his trip to Paris in 1900 and an influence of these painters on his work is evident.
In Spain Sorolla was not an official court painter to the king, who had himself portrayed by numerous painters. These included Román Navarro , Nicolás Aquino , José Mongrell Torrent or Philip Alexius de László , some of whom also showed the king in hussar uniform. In addition, the king used the medium of photography for his public presentation, as shown in a picture of the king in a hussar uniform by Christian Franzen from 1923. For the authors José Luis Díez and Javier Barón, the portrait of King Alfonso XIII. in the hussar uniform of Sorolla the most dazzling and spectacular image created by the king.
Nicolás Aquino: Alfonso XIII. In military uniform , 1911
Román Navarro: King Alfonso XIII. of Spain , 1912
Philip Alexius de László: Portrait of King Alfonso XIII. , 1927
José Mongrell Torrent: Alfonso XIII. in the uniform of a Pavia hussar , 1915
Christian Franzen: Photograph of King Alfonso XIII, around 1923
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literature
- Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Sorolla, the masterpieces . Frölich and Kaufmann, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-945330-03-6 .
- Begoña Torres González: Sorolla, la magia de la luz . Libsa, Madrid 2009, ISBN 978-84-662-1040-9 .
- José Luis Díez, Javier Barón: Joaquín Sorolla, 1863–1923 . Exhibition catalog Museo del Prado, Madrid 2009, ISBN 978-84-8480-181-8 .
- Roger Diederen, María López Fernández, Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Joaquín Sorolla - Spain's master of light . Catalog for the exhibition in the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Hirmer, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-7774-2563-4 .
- Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière, Lorena Delgado, Eloy Martínez de la Pera: Sorolla and fashion . Exhibition catalog Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Sorolla, Madrid 2018, ISBN 978-84-17173-12-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ German title see Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Sorolla, die Meisterwerke , p. 100.
- ↑ Spanish title according to Begoña Torres González: Sorolla, la magia de la luz , p. 314.
- ^ Roger Diederen, María López Fernández, Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Joaquín Sorolla - Spain's Masters of Light , p. 41.
- ↑ Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Sorolla, the masterpieces , p. 100.
- ↑ José Luis Díez, Javier Barón: Joaquín Sorolla, 1863-1923 , p. 95.
- ^ German title of the painting from Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Sorolla, die Meisterwerke , p. 200.
- ↑ Information on the painting Jura de la Constitución por SM la Reina Regente Doña María Cristina on the website of the Senado de España
- ↑ Information on the painting Retrato del rey Alfonso XIII y su madre la reina María Cristina in Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière, Lorena Delgado, Eloy Martínez de la Pera: Sorolla and fashion, p. 50.
- ↑ Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Sorolla, the masterpieces , p. 208.
- ↑ Blanca Pons-Sorolla: Sorolla, the masterpieces , p. 208.
- ↑ Begoña Torres González: Sorolla, la magia de la luz , p. 314.
- ↑ Begoña Torres González: Sorolla, la magia de la luz , p. 314.
- ↑ José Luis Díez, Javier Barón: Joaquín Sorolla, 1863-1923 , p. 95.
- ↑ "deslumbrante y espectacular de toda" in José Luis Díez, Javier Barón: Joaquín Sorolla, 1863-1923 , p. 95.