The grandparents
1905. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
An elderly married couple is depicted from a three-quarter view. The man is wearing a traditional hat and cloak ready to go out into the street while the woman is seated by the door crocheting. A simple crucifix hangs on the whitewashed wall, while the atmosphere suggests silence. When looking at this painting, we cannot help but think of our own grandparents in wedding photographs, although in those portraits it was the grandfather who was usually seated while the standing grandmother would rest a hand on the chair. Another example of Segovia inspiring a motif of foreign painters: Castilian character, the roots of what is considered to be Spanish and traditional, and the elder Segovians with their faces as wrinkled as their ploughed fields. The romance of Castile’s past proved so compelling to the artist, that he almost never opened his eyes to Castile as a place with a future. Sotomayor was however, accustomed to depicting popular Galician scenes in which the young men, rather than the generation depicted in this work, seem absorbed in contemplating the beauty of their women. The works by artists from abroad depicting young Segovians are rare.
Aparicio Gonzalez, J., Tiempo de Cambios Segovia 1874-1931, Segovia, Caja Segovia. Obra Social, 2002, p.250
