Ignacio Zuloaga

IGNACIO ZULOAGA Y ZABALETA (Éibar, Guipúzcoa, 1870 - Madrid, 1945).
"The three cousins (Teodora, Esperanza and Cándida)".
Engraving on paper. Numbered: 81.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Engraving by P. Labrouche.
Measurements: 53 x 62 cm (plate); 60,5 x 74 cm (frame).

Ignacio Zuloaga, initially trained in his father's damascene workshop, abandoned engineering to become a key figure in 20th century Spanish painting. His artistic identity was forged by copying the great masters of the Prado Museum (especially El Greco, of whom he was a great promoter) and polished in fin-de-siècle Paris, where he befriended Rodin and experimented with impressionism and symbolism.

However, his definitive style emerged from the rediscovery of his roots in Andalusia and, above all, in Segovia. Under the influence of the Generation of '98, Zuloaga immortalized the austerity of the Castilian landscape and the dignity of its people, achieving a resounding international success that led the French state to acquire iconic works such as My Uncle and My Cousins. A great collector and admirer of Goya, he established museums in Zumaya and the castle of Pedraza. Today he is recognized, along with Gutiérrez Solana, as the great continuator of the Spanish pictorial tradition, with a presence in elite institutions such as the Metropolitan, the Hermitage and the Musée d'Orsay.