Sorolla. The Hispanic Society

Since the founding of the Hispanic Society of America in 1904 by the American scholar and philanthropist Archer M. Huntington (1870-1955), there has been no other artist so closely linked to his celebrated collection of paintings as Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923). ). The doors of the Hispanic Society had only been open to the public for a few months when Huntington discovered Sorolla's painting, which he was currently exhibiting at the Grafton Galleries. Huntington had found in Sorolla an artist who shared his same love for Spain, its people and its customs, and that's why he began to schedule an exhibition that would take place the following year at the Hispanic Society.

They worked together day and night to prepare the exhibition that would be inaugurated on February 4, 1909, and there they laid the foundations of a great friendship. The exhibition was a great success and Huntington had the opportunity to acquire some of the most famous works of Sorolla and took the opportunity to commission him to paint a series of large history paintings that show a broad panorama of Spain and Portugal.

This book publishes for the first time the complete collection of Sorolla's works in the Hispanic Society, both oil paintings, panels, sketches and drawings, all as a tribute to the great friendship and the lasting achievements of those two extraordinary people who were Archer M. Huntington and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida.