Modesto Brocos in his studio in Brazil

Modesto Brocos, a native of Santiago de Compostela who settled in Brazil, returned to Europe to create the work he had "dreamed of before becoming a painter". The photograph shows the artist completing the large canvas in 1899 - as evidenced by the signature still visible today - just in time to present it at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900, where it did not achieve the success he had hoped for.