The Return from the Burial
Ca. 1890. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
This painting, also entitled El viático [The Viaticum], shows a scene in which three small figures walk alone under the inclemency of a strong wind in the midst of a flat, frozen landscape. At the front is a priest and, a few steps behind him, two altar boys, one of whom is carrying a cross. The composition is imbued with a strong sense of sadness and melancholy. The arrangement of the three figures in the right half of the canvas heightens the sense of emptiness and solitude, which is reinforced by the use of a cold colour palette of greys, whites and blues. It is a realist work with Romantic and symbolist influences, executed with short, agile and loose brushstrokes in which the viewer can appreciate the superimposition of the layers of colour (Photograph on loan from the Museo Provincial de Lugo, the institution holding the work).
Quiroga Figueroa, María, Museo do Prado. Os depósitos no Museo Provincial de Lugo, Lugo, Museo Provincial de Lugo, 2011, p.138-141
