A country. Surroundings of Madrid
1871. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This canvas displays the most definitive stylistic features of the artist, with a serene and balanced composition in the spatial distribution of the masses, centred in this case by a leafy grove of tall and dense trees. Surrounding the grove there is a modest rural farmhouse with walls and fences. Next to it, there are figures of two young boys and a dog, a pastoralist remnant taken from the works of his master Carlos de Haes. The breadth of his technique, based on broad brushstrokes that construct the different elements of the composition on the basis of planes of light, shows a clear stylistic evolution with respect to his previous landscapes. However, he is always subject to a rigorous modelling of the volumes and to a structuring of the landscape around specific, nearby natural elements on which he focuses his attention. He always prefers the latter to panoramic views of distant horizons in which the viewer´s gaze is lost.
It was awarded the third medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1871. However, the work was not bought by the State until a few years after the painter´s death.
Carlos de Haes (1826-1898), Madrid, Fundación Marcelino Botín, 2002, p.143-145
