José Mongrell Inseparable
Josep Mongrell
Valencia 1870 - 1937 Barcelona
Inseparable
Oil on canvas
Signed et localised on the lower left J. Mongrell / Cullera (VALENCIA)
70,5 x 100,5 cm ; 27¾ by 39⅝ in.
Catalogue Note:
Among the followers of Joaquín Sorolla and his “luminism,” José Mongrell i Torrent is often considered the artist whose painting style most closely resembles Sorolla’s. This little girl carrying her dog out of the water is undoubtedly reminiscent of the various beach scenes Sorolla painted in Valencia. One is reminded, for example, of Niña en la playa, painted in 1910 and now in a private collection (Christie’s, London, July 6, 2010, lot 53). Here, the pale pink of the dress blends perfectly with the colors of the sky reflected in the water. Following the master’s style, Mongrell i Torrent breaks with convention by placing the child at the center of the composition, against a backdrop of the sea’s shades of blue, without showing the horizon. These compositional choices reinforce the sense of spontaneity and naturalness that emanates from the painting.
The painter studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia, his hometown, where he joined the studio of Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench and Francisco Domingo Marqués in 1885. After beginning his career as a portrait painter, he turned to landscape and genre painting. Encouraged by his academic successes, he moved to Madrid from 1899 to 1906, where he became a student of Sorolla. He then set up his studio in Cullera, a small coastal town near Valencia, which gave him the opportunity to explore the effects of light in seascapes and to depict fishermen and bathers, as in the work presented here. La Pareja de niños pescaderos (lot 57) is also representative of this period of his work.
Josep Mongrell
Valencia 1870 - 1937 Barcelona
Inseparable
Oil on canvas
Signed et localised on the lower left J. Mongrell / Cullera (VALENCIA)
70,5 x 100,5 cm ; 27¾ by 39⅝ in.
Catalogue Note:
Among the followers of Joaquín Sorolla and his “luminism,” José Mongrell i Torrent is often considered the artist whose painting style most closely resembles Sorolla’s. This little girl carrying her dog out of the water is undoubtedly reminiscent of the various beach scenes Sorolla painted in Valencia. One is reminded, for example, of Niña en la playa, painted in 1910 and now in a private collection (Christie’s, London, July 6, 2010, lot 53). Here, the pale pink of the dress blends perfectly with the colors of the sky reflected in the water. Following the master’s style, Mongrell i Torrent breaks with convention by placing the child at the center of the composition, against a backdrop of the sea’s shades of blue, without showing the horizon. These compositional choices reinforce the sense of spontaneity and naturalness that emanates from the painting.
The painter studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia, his hometown, where he joined the studio of Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench and Francisco Domingo Marqués in 1885. After beginning his career as a portrait painter, he turned to landscape and genre painting. Encouraged by his academic successes, he moved to Madrid from 1899 to 1906, where he became a student of Sorolla. He then set up his studio in Cullera, a small coastal town near Valencia, which gave him the opportunity to explore the effects of light in seascapes and to depict fishermen and bathers, as in the work presented here. La Pareja de niños pescaderos (lot 57) is also representative of this period of his work.
