Carlos Vazquez

CARLOS VÁZQUEZ ÚBEDA (Ciudad Real, 1869 - Barcelona, 1944).
"The prodigal daughter", 1911.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Exhibition:- Paris Salon, 1911 (next to The roses have thorns).
Bibliography:- La Ilustración Española y Americana, year LV, nº XLVI, Madrid, December 15, 1911, pp. 349-350.- Ilustración Artística, nº 1540, Barcelona, July 3, 1911, p. 437.- Le mois littéraire et pittoresque, nº 151, Paris.- Ciervo, J., Carlos Vázquez. The great contemporary artists, Barcelona, 1932, p. 110.
With visible restoration of the canvas on the back.
Measurements: 150 x 206 cm; 163 x 219 cm (frame).

In "The prodigal daughter", presented in the Paris Salon of 1911 together with The roses have thorns, Carlos Vázquez Úbeda develops a scene of intense moral dramatism inspired by the evangelical parable. The composition places the young protagonist - elegantly dressed and isolated in a bourgeois interior - in front of the irruption of her parents, humble peasants who embody the ethical and affective dimension of the story. The narrative tension is built through the physical distance between the characters, the restrained glances and sober gestures, generating a climate of silent emotional confrontation.

The staging is carefully theatrical: the table covered with green cloth functions as a symbolic barrier, while the verticality of the door and the grouping of the figures reinforce the sense of confrontation. The richness of the canvases' depiction is evidence of Vázquez's solid academic training and mastery of detail, as well as his sensitivity to the social contrast between rural and urban worlds.

The warm lighting models the faces and concentrates attention on moods rather than on explicit action. This psychological treatment, together with the technical precision and the moral dimension of the subject matter, places the work within the narrative realism of the early 20th century, where human conflict becomes the axis of art.

The importance of this painting is confirmed by its early international reception: in 1912 the German emperor awarded Vázquez the decoration of the Red Eagle, and in 1913 he won the Gold Medal at the Paris Salon for "Honeymoon in the Valley of Ansó", acquired by Archer Milton Huntington for the Hispanic Society of America, an institution of which the artist became a member in 1914. "La hija pródiga" was also published in publications such as La Ilustración Española y Americana and Ilustración Artística, consolidating its relevance within the painter's most ambitious production.

Carlos Vázquez was a member of the Academy of San Fernando, knight of the French Legion of Honor and received several official decorations. His work is represented in the Prado Museum and in important public and private collections.