EDUARDO SÁNCHEZ SOLÁ (Madrid, 1869 - Granada,... Lot 35

EDUARDO SÁNCHEZ SOLÁ (Madrid, 1869 - Granada, 1949) "Valenciana". Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower left corner. Measurements: 32 x 49 cm; 46 x 61 cm (frame). In the centre of the scene a woman dressed in regional clothes approaches a bunch of grapes to the man who stands behind her. The scene, which apparently deals with a costumbrista theme, also shows a certain gallantry that was common in 19th-century painting. Moreover, this sense of delicacy is also conveyed by the colours used by the artist and the precious treatment of the elements that make up the composition. Sánchez Solá trained at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, where his teachers were Alejandro Ferrant and Luis Taberner. He later taught at the School of Arts and Crafts in Granada, and was a contributor to the art magazine "La Ilustración Española y Americana". He participated assiduously in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, being awarded an honourable mention in 1895; a third class medal in 1897 for the canvas "Tristes noticias" and in 1899 for "El destete"; a decoration in 1901 and an honourable mention in Decorative Art in 1904. He also exhibited at the Regional Exhibition of Modern Art in Granada, at the one at the Centro Artístico in 1942 and at the one in Linares in 1943. Sánchez Solá specialised in oil paintings in which he depicted scenes of altar boys playing games in Andalusian churches of the time. In them, the artist was able to capture the expressiveness and movement of the children, who generally appear concentrated in a game. He is therefore known as "the painter of altar boys", and works such as "Short and Tight", "Do what you like", "Mischief", etc. are still preserved from this genre. He was also known as a painter of portraits and landscapes. Sánchez Solá is currently represented in the Museo del Prado and the Museo Provincial de Lugo, as well as in various private collections.