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Provenance: Joaquín Lafuente, by 1954
Patricio Fernández Pérez (León), by 1961
Sale: Subastas Villares-Toro, Madrid, June 1971
Purchased at the above sale by Manuel Ambrós Escanellas; thence by descent to the present owner

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Exhibited: Paris, Exposición de obras de José Gutiérrez Solana, solo exhibition organised by the Spanish Embassy, 1954, no. 16

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Literature: 'José-Gutierrez Solana. 1989-1945', Arts, Paris, May - June 1954, illustrated
Antonio Manuel Campoy, 'Crisis del Arte Religioso', ABC, 7 April 1964, illustrated
S. Cristóbal Carretero, Cisneros, 7 March 1980, discussed

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Notes: Executed in the late 1930s, this grand composition depicts a Spanish Easter procession. The Passion of Christ and popular celebrations were a continuous source of inspiration to Solana between 1910 and his death in 1945.

Painted in Solana's unique style, the painting nevertheless shows the influence of Goya, particularly La Procesión de Disciplinantes (fig. 1), which would have been familiar to him from his years of lessons at the Academia de San Fernando and Museo del Prado. Both Solana and Goya favoured the use of dark palettes and dirty paint surfaces for the expression of moral misgiving and psychological unease. The poet Antonio Machado called Solana a 'necromantic Goya' who paints with insane voluptuousness, treating life as though it were death, death as though it were life (John F. Moffitt, The Arts in Spain, New York, 1999, p. 198).

Solana's style remains difficult to categorise, even though his artistic production took place at a time which parallels the avant-garde movements of the first half of the last century. In spite of his two stays in Paris in 1928 and 1937, he never succumbed to the avant-garde movements of his time and instead, as in the present work, sought his inspiration from his native Spain, humanising the macabre and linking the heritage of Goya to the art of his times.

The religious subject of the present work may seem an unlikely choice for a subversive modern artist of the early twentieth century, yet the centrality of the Catholic faith to the cultural and social framework of Spain gave Solana the opportunity to translate traditional imagery into a language to which his contemporary audience could relate. In his patriotic quest to re-establish national and regional pride, Solana's painting remained faithful to the Spanish school of Velázquez, Juan de Valdés Leal, El Greco and Goya.

Solana's subjects were drawn from the customs and people he had grown up with in Madrid and Santander. Like the works of the other members of the Generación del 98 to which he belonged, Solana's paintings show a country in which the power and depth of the feelings and passions have not been corrupted by modern life. Together with his admirer Zuloaga, he belongs to the group of artists that painted the España negra. It was Zuloaga who discovered, praised and acquired some of Solana's first paintings, and who acted as agent in the sale of this painting to an art collector. This esteem was reciprocated by Solana, and he dedicated his book Madrid Callejero in 1923 to the Basque artist.

Spain to them was inspiring because of its beauty and sadness. It is interesting to note that Sargent was so impressed with the Spanishness of Solana's works, shown in an exhibition of Spanish Paintings at the Royal Academy in London in November 1921, that he later acquired several works by the artist.


FIG. 1, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Procesión de disciplinantes (Procession of Flagellants), 1815-19, Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid
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FIG. 2, José-Gutierrez Solana, La Procesión, circa 1917, oil on canvas, Grupo Santander Collection
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