Apunte de escena

1885–1889 · Drawing

Can I see it?

Unknown

Where is “Apunte de escena” now? Collection: Sorolla Museum, Madrid. Unknown.

Sorolla Museum

Madrid, Spain

The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.

In this state since: Sep 27, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

Museum text in Spanish

Anverso: Apunte de figura masculina, cabeza y caballo Hacia la izquierda, figura masculina sentada, de cuerpo entero y en pose de tres cuartos. Tiene las manos sobre el regazo, con una pierna doblada y la otra ligeramente estirada. Lleva traje y abrigo corto, y a la cabeza sombrero. A su derecha, comenzando en el borde de su figura, se ha dibujado la cabeza de un caballo vista con el papel girado 90 grados. Está de perfil a la derecha, muy abocetado. Con el papel en la misma posición, hacia la derecha, cabeza masculina de frente con gran bigote y chistera a la cabeza. En la zona izquierda, unos rasguños. Reverso: Apunte de escena En primer plano, a la derecha, figura femenina de espaldas, de pie y de cuerpo entero. Frente a ella lo que parece una ventana enrejada y en la parte superior de ésta, una figura asomando, de medio cuerpo, como si estuviera volando (?). La escena resulta confusa, estando el dibujo muy abocetado.

Sorolla Museum

Details

What it shows

Horse Male figure Female figures

In the catalog

Drawings & watercolors Impressionism 19th century

Sources

Sorolla Museum
Image: Sorolla Museum — In Copyright

In the life of Joaquín Sorolla

The whole life

1885
A four-year grant to study in Rome
Having completed his military service, the twenty-two-year-old Sorolla received a grant from the Spanish Academy in Rome for four years of study in Italy. In Rome he was welcomed by the academy’s director, Francisco Pradilla, in whose example the young painter found stability.
1885
Paris: his first encounter with modern painting
A long stay in Paris gave him his first exposure to modern painting; he was especially struck by exhibitions of Jules Bastien-Lepage and Adolph von Menzel. Back in Rome he studied with José Benlliure, Emilio Sala and José Villegas Cordero.
1888
Returns to Valencia to marry Clotilde
Sorolla returned to Valencia to marry Clotilde García del Castillo; by 1895 they had three children — María, Joaquín and Elena.
13 April 1889
Daughter born: María Sorolla García
1890
Moves to Madrid: large canvases for the salons
The family moved to Madrid. For the next decade Sorolla concentrated on large canvases of orientalist, mythological, historical and social subjects for salons and international exhibitions in Madrid, Paris, Venice, Munich, Berlin and Chicago.