Abstract
The National Gallery , London , 18 March 2019 to 7 July 2019 At first you don’t even notice the heavily laden trio nearing the top of their perilous ascent. You can just make out the join where Sorolla extended the canvas by a third, using symmetry to dissolve their packs into the rock face. The blinding panoramic brilliance of sun-drenched boulders meets risk and illicit thrill. Both are answered by the deep glinting Mediterranean azure. Playful, breezy, and technically flawless, The Smugglers (image below) was commissioned by the American ‘king of tobacco’ and perfectly encapsulates the artist’s joyful quintessence. Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923) is probably the most famous artist you’ve never heard of. Wildly successful in his time, his work was commissioned by governments, industrial magnates, aristocrats, and even the sitting US president (William Howard Taft, in 1909). …
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