IX. The Hispanic Society of America
The Hispanic Society of America was
founded in 1904 by the American magnate
Archer M. Huntington, who conceived it as
a place for the study and preservation of
Hispanic culture in New York. Its founder
also left the Society his vast and rich
collection of artwork and historic
pieces, primarily from Spain. In 1909,
Sorolla and Huntington began a fertile
relationship that greatly contributed to
the painter’s success in the United
States; the collector also bought some of
his best works. In 1910, they planned the
mural which Sorolla was to paint for the
Library of the Society’s new
headquarters, built in 1908, which was
designed to be the nucleus of the
institution’s activities. Though
Huntington felt that this room should be
decorated with the most important
episodes from Spanish and Portuguese
history, Sorolla convinced his patron to
let him do a monumental frieze with the
different landscapes of Spain, including
the characteristic types of each
region.
The artist devoted all his energy to this
project, almost uninterruptedly, from
1911 to 1919, leaving behind a vision of
the country consistent with the one held
by Huntington and other Anglo-Saxon
Hispanists who, despite the process of
industrialization that had already begun
in Spain, still had a neo-Romantic vision
of the country, focused on its more
timeless aspects and the survival of past
customs. Huntington was very satisfied
with the result, and in 1918, when he saw
the nearly-complete series of panels, he
said: ‘Sorolla has taken his theory of
painting to the limit, and for that alone
it will endure.’
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Joaquín Sorolla, Castilla. La Fiesta del Pan, 1913. Óleo sobre lienzo. 351 x 1392 cm. Nueva York, The Hispanic Society of America
