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Lot description
(Valencia 1870–1937 Barcelona) Mending the Nets (“Arreglando las redes”), signed J. Mongrell, oil on canvas, 76 x 90 cm, framed Provenance: Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 21 June 1989, lot 591; European Private Collection. Exhibited: Joaquín Sorolla y la pintura valenciana de su tiempo. Diálogos y contrastes, MUBAG, Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, 9 January - 25 June 2023. Illustrated in: Francisco Javier Pérez Rojas, Sorolla y la pintura valenciana de su tiempo. Diálogos y contrastes, Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia y colecciones particulares, 2023, p. 74, ill. 49. A certificate issued by Francisco Javier Pérez Rojas, Valencia, 28 June 2022, is available upon request. The emergence of Luminism as an alternative to academic rigidity marked a pivotal moment in the modernisation of pictorial practice in fin-de-siècle Spanish art. Masters such as Joaquín Sorolla and his favourite disciple, José Mongrell y Torrent, skilfully captured their surroundings with a loose, pulsating brushstroke. While still rooted in the conservative tenets of their academic training, their approach bore a close affinity to the ground-breaking precepts of French Impressionism. Mongrell, in particular, turned his paintings set in his favoured summer retreat at Culella’s beach into an ideal backdrop for the poeticisation of the world of labour. His work emphasised the dignity of humble characters who, in carrying out their daily chores, emerge as true heroes of modernity. The solidity of Mongrell’s protagonists, marked by their unassuming elegance and serenity, combined with the colourful boldness of his palette and the agility of his brushwork, transports us to the most intimate and vital vision of Valencian costumbrismo, overflowing with the hypnotic luminosity of the Mediterranean.