José María Beránger y Ruiz de Apodaca (1824–1907) Admiral of the Navy, Minister of the Navy

This oil painting is a sketch of "The Constitution Pledge of the Queen Regent" which currently hangs in the Spanish Senate and depicts the ceremony held on December 30, 1885 when Queen Regent Maria Christina pledged before the courts to be loyal to the heir to the throne and uphold the constitution and the law.

Creating the work was a complex process. The man originally commissioned was José Casado del Alisal. However, after his sudden death, Francisco Jover Casanova was selected for the painting, even receiving an advance for his trouble. Jover also died before finishing the work so the Senate Interior Government Committee chose Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, a friend of Jover's, to complete it. He eventually finished the painting in 1898.

This work is a sketch completed by Sorolla of one of the subjects in the final painting: José María Beránger y Ruiz de Apodaca, Admiral of the Navy. Beránger was involved in the Glorious Revolution of 1868 which resulted in the deposition of Queen Isabella II. He was Minister of the Navy for 6 separate periods between the 1870s and 1890s and collaborated in General Manual Pavía's 1874 coup d'état which led to the fall of the First Spanish Republic and the restoration of the monarchy. In 1903 he rose to the position of Admiral and died 4 years later as State Councillor.

Sketches allowed artists to work on large compositions more quickly and comfortably. Observational painting was a key aspect of the Valencian artist's technique in both landscape and portrait paintings. The work reveals the artist's haste, with some parts of the canvas left untouched. The psychological study of the subject also has merit.