Sorolla’s wife Clotilde was his confidant, traveling companion, bookkeeper (or in his words, "my Treasury Minister"), and muse. In this portrait, set in their Madrid home, she poses as a Spanish beauty wearing a striking evening dress. Behind her is Sorolla’s painting of a female saint, made during the first months of their marriage in 1888. At far right the artist depicted the edge of another canvas—a conceit recalling the work of seventeenth-century master and fellow countryman Velázquez. The present picture hung prominently in Sorolla’s wildly successful 1909 exhibition at the Hispanic Society of America in New York, where The Met immediately acquired it.
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Inscription: Signed, dated, and inscribed: (lower left) J. Sorolla Bastida 1906; (right edge) Clotilde de Sorolla.
the artist, Madrid (1906–9; sold at Hispanic Society Exhibition to The Met)
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition Sorolla y Bastida," June 12–July 10, 1906, no. 406 (as "Portrait de Mme Sorolla [robe noire]").
Berlin. Galerie Schulte. February 3–March 1, 1907, no catalogue? [see Pons-Sorolla and Fernández 2016].
Düsseldorf. Galerie Schulte. April 1907, no catalogue? [see Pons-Sorolla and Fernández 2016].
Cologne. Galerie Schulte. May 1907 [see Pons-Sorolla and Fernández 2016].
London. Grafton Galleries. "Exhibition of Paintings by Señor Sorolla y Bastida," May–July 1908, no. 99 (as "Señora de Sorolla").
New York. Hispanic Society of America. "Catalogue of Paintings by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida," February 8–March 8, 1909, no. 288 (as "Señora de Sorolla (negro) / Señora de Sorolla in black").
Palm Beach. Society of the Four Arts. "Spanish Painting," January 11–February 6, 1952, no. 43.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "La Belle Epoque," December 6, 1982–September 4, 1983, not in catalogue.
Liège. Salle Saint Georges. "Sorolla/Solana," October 15–December 1, 1985, no. 18.
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. "Sorolla y Zuloaga: Dos Visiones para un Cambio de Siglo," December 19, 1997–February 22, 1998, no. 37.
Madrid. Fundación Cultural MAPFRE Vida. "Sorolla, Zuloaga: Dos Visiones para un Cambio de Siglo," April 8–June 28, 1998, no. 25.
Albuquerque Museum. "Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso," August 21–November 27, 2005, no. 37.
Dallas. Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University. "Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso," December 11, 2005–February 26, 2006, no. 37.
Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado. "Joaquín Sorolla, 1863–1923," May 26–September 6, 2009, no. 54.
Dallas. Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University. "Sorolla and America," December 13, 2013–April 19, 2014, no. 47.
San Diego Museum of Art. "Sorolla and America," May 31–August 26, 2014, no. 47.
Madrid. Fundación MAPFRE. "Sorolla y Estados Unidos," September 26, 2014–January 11, 2015, no. 48 (as "Clotilde con traje negro").
Munich. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. "Joaquín Sorolla—Spaniens Meister des Lichts," March 4–July 3, 2016, no. 37 (as "Señora de Sorolla in Black").
Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny. "Sorolla, un peintre espagnol à Paris," July 14–November 6, 2016, no. 37.
Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "Sorolla and Fashion," February 13–May 27, 2018, no. 15.
London. National Gallery. "Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light," March 18–July 7, 2019, no. 3 (as "Clotilde in a Black Dress").
Dublin. National Gallery of Ireland. "Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light," August 10–November 3, 2019, no. 3 (as "Clotilde in a Black Dress").
LOAN OF THIS WORK IS RESTRICTED.
Leonard Williams. "The Portrait-Work of Joaquín Sorolla." International Studio 29 (July 1906), p. 30, notes that he saw it in the artist's studio.
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. Letter to Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora. March 1906 [published in Ref. Tomás 2007, p. 208, no. 200], reports that he has finished painting it.
Exhibition of Paintings by Señor Sorolla y Bastida. Exh. cat., Grafton Galleries. London, 1908, p. 38, no. 99, pl. 99 (detail), refers to it as both "Señora de Sorolla" and "My Wife".
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. Letter to Clotilde García del Castillo. May 1, 1908 [published in Pons-Sorolla and Sorolla 2009, no. 280], states that it impressed John Singer Sargent on his visit to Sorolla's exhibition in London (1908).
B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "Principal Accessions." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (April 1909), pp. 69–70.
"The Sorolla Exhibition of Paintings." The Call (February 25, 1909) [reprinted in "Eight Essays on Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida," vol. 2, New York, 1909, pp. 273–74].
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. Letters to Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora. February 11 and 19, 1909 [published in Ref. Tomás 2007, pp. 272–74, nos. 316–17], relates that this painting has been sold to the MMA along with two others, including "The Bath, Jávea" (09.71.2).
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, p. 307.
Bernardino de Pantorba. La Vida y La Obra de Joaquín Sorolla, Estudio Biográfico y Crítico. Madrid, [1953], p. 165, no. 1076, pl. 73.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 91.
Bernardino de Pantorba. La vida y la obra de Joaquín Sorolla: Estudio biografico y critico. 2nd, enlarged ed. Madrid, 1970, p. 169 no. 1076, ill. p. 69 (detail), calls it "Clotilde con traje negro (de cuerpo entero)" (Clotilde in a Black Dress [full-length]).
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 169, ill.
José María Faerna García-Bermejo. Joaquín Sorolla. Barcelona, 2000, p. 9, ill. and colorpl. 50, reproduces a photograph of the Sorolla y Bastida exhibition of 1909 in New York that includes this picture; mentions a photograph of Sorolla y Bastida painting this work.
Blanca Pons-Sorolla. Joaquín Sorolla, Vida y Obra. Madrid, 2001, pp. 236, 238, 239, 309 n. 62, p. 323, ill. and colorpl. 131, reproduces a photograph of Clotilde posing for this work as Sorolla y Bastida paints it.
Mark Roglán et al. Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso. Exh. cat., Albuquerque Museum. Albuquerque, 2005, p. 200, colorpl. 37, gives the sitter's life dates as 1865–1925 in the text, and 1865–1929 in the caption; states that it was painted in the Sorolla home at Miguel Ángel Street in Madrid, with the artist's painting "Meditation" in the background.
Facundo Tomás et al., ed. Epistolarios de Joaquín Sorolla. Vol. 1, Correspondencia con Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora. Barcelona, 2007, pp. 207–8, 272–74, nos. 200, 316–17, ill.
José Luis Díez and Javier Barón inJoaquín Sorolla, 1863–1923. Ed. José Luis Díez and Javier Barón. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2009, pp. 35, 87.
Carlos G. Navarro inJoaquín Sorolla, 1863–1923. Ed. José Luis Díez and Javier Barón. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2009, p. 210, notes that "Praying Saint" (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), depicted behind Clotilde, was a treasured painting always hung in the artist's home.
José Luis Díez inJoaquín Sorolla, 1863–1923. Ed. José Luis Díez and Javier Barón. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2009, pp. 283, 352–54, 380, no. 54, ill. (color), notes that Clotilde was Sorolla's favorite model, adding that many of her portraits, including this one, were intended for public display; reproduces a charcoal drawing (present location unknown) showing an alternate pose.
Blanca Pons-Sorolla inJoaquín Sorolla, 1863–1923. Ed. José Luis Díez and Javier Barón. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2009, p. 493.
Blanca Pons-Sorolla and Víctor Lorente Sorolla, ed. Epistolarios de Joaquín Sorolla. Vol. 3, Correspondencia con Clotilde García del Castillo (1891–1911). Rubí (Barcelona), 2009, p. 246, no. 280, publishes Sorolla 1908, identifying The Met's picture as the portrait discussed in the letter.
Blanca Pons-Sorolla inPortraits of the Belle Epoque. Exh. cat., Centro del Carmen, Valencia. Madrid, 2011, pp. 100–101 n. 5.
María López Fernández inClotilde de Sorolla. Exh. cat., Museo Sorolla. Madrid, 2012, pp. 69, 79, ill. p. 80 (color), no. 74 (photograph of the artist painting The Met's picture while his wife models for it), states that a letter the artist wrote to his wife on November 23, 1907, may refer to this painting; discusses the picture as a marketing tool for the artist in which he presents the elegance and beauty his portraits could convey; compares it to Carolus-Duran's "Woman with Gloves" (1869, Musée d'Orsay, Paris); reproduces a 1906 photograph of a detail of the painting (pp. 68, 184; Museo Sorolla, Madrid, inv. no. 81718).
Blanca Pons-Sorolla inSorolla and America. Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla and Mark A. Roglán. Exh. cat., Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University. Dallas, 2013, pp. 21, 24, 28 n. 15, pp. 174–75, 294, no. 47, colorpl. 47 [Spanish ed., "Sorolla y Estados Unidos," Madrid, 2014, pp. 21, 26, 31 n. 15, pp. 183, 345, no. 48, colorpl. 48, ill. p. 258 (color detail)], states that it was one of the most frequently reproduced portraits in the press of the period and that Baldwin Piano used the picture for an advertisement "as a paradigm of the exclusive and exquisite".
Mitchell A. Codding inSorolla and America. Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla and Mark A. Roglán. Exh. cat., Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University. Dallas, 2013, p. 60 [Spanish ed., "Sorolla y Estados Unidos," Madrid, 2014, p. 68].
María Luisa Menéndez Robles inJoaquín Sorolla: Técnica artística. Madrid, 2015, pp. 33, 65, 67, fig. 24 (photograph of Sorolla working on this painting), calls it "Clotilde con traje negro".
Blanca Pons-Sorolla inSorolla and the Paris Years. Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla and María López Fernández. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich. New York, 2016, p. 34.
Dominique Lobstein inSorolla and the Paris Years. Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla and María López Fernández. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich. New York, 2016, fig. 35 (in installation photograph from 1906 Georges Petit exhibition).
Blanca Pons-Sorolla and María López Fernández inSorolla and the Paris Years. Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla and María López Fernández. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich. New York, 2016, pp. 147, 238 no. 37, colorpl. 37, ill. p. 226 (photograph of the artist painting The Met's picture with his wife modeling), notes that it was one of his most successful portraits in both the Paris 1906 and New York 1909 exhibitions; states that the painting was in an exhibition in 1907 at the Galerie Schulte in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Cologne.
Sorolla and Fashion. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Sorolla. Madrid, 2018, p. 207, no. 15, ill. pp. 10 (photograph of the artist painting The Met's picture while his wife models for it), 69 (color).
Lorena Delgado inSorolla and Fashion. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Sorolla. Madrid, 2018, p. 31, fig. 29 (photograph of the artist painting The Met's picture while his wife models for it).
Javier Barón Thaidigsmann inSorolla: Spanish Master of Light. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2019, p. 31, fig. 23 (color detail), cites Goya's influence on Sorolla's female portraits like this one.
Rosalind McKever inSorolla: Spanish Master of Light. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2019, pp. 88–89, 126, 218, no. 3, ill. (color), as "Clotilde in a Black Dress"; notes that in New York 1909 it was installed as the left side of a triptych, with "Clotilde Strolling in the Gardens of La Granja" (1907, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, Havana) on the right, and "After the Bath" (1908, Hispanic Society of America, New York) in the center.
Blanca Pons-Sorolla inSorolla: Spanish Master of Light. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 2019, p. 242, figs. 84, 85, 87 (photograph of the artist sketching The Met's picture while his wife poses for it and installation shots of Paris 1906 and New York 1909), dates photograph of Sorolla sketching the initial image in charcoal while his wife poses for him in her black dress to 1905.
Sorolla: Catalogue Raisonné, Painting Collection of the Museo Sorolla. Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla. Madrid, 2019, p. 501, notes the artist painted seventeen portraits of his friends and family in the first months of 1906, including this one.
Clotilde de Sorolla, the wife of the painter, was the daughter of his friend and patron Don Antonio García.
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