The Triumph of Apollo

This panel is part of a series that Sert produced for the decoration of Kent House, belonging to Sir Saxton Noble, in Knightsbridge, London. The present composition is one of the large panels painted for the Bucrania Room. The scene depicts a central figure of a violinist surrounded by centaurs, elephants, putti, bearers of gifts and a wide variety of other figures and animals. Sert prepared these panels using preliminary photographs. In his book José María Sert. His life and work Alberto Castillo noted the influence on this composition of The Miracle of Saint Mark by Tintoretto, the Triumphs of Caesar and a Crucifixion by Mantegna, and a range of works by Veronese, the Carracci, Piranesi and Tiepolo. Castillo only detected non-Italian influences in some specific elements such as the influence of Jan Fyt in the Catalan version of japonisme evident in this work, and that of the contemporary French artist Henry Lerolle.

Castillo, who analysed the entire scheme for Kent House (from which there are other works in the Colección Santander), considered that this panel corresponds to the phase of Sert’s work that was most influenced by Italian art. The artist gradually moved away from that influence in subsequent projects although even in this one it is possible to detect an interest in the exotic that would become more pronounced in later phases of his career.