Types of Lagartera or Lagarterana bride

The commission to decorate the library of the Hispanic Society of America in New York, which kept him busy from 1912 to 1919, presented Sorolla with the challenge of conveying to the American public an image of the country that reflected the national identity. The present canvas, also entitled "Bride of the Lagarterana", was executed in the spring of 1912 as a preparatory study for the panel devoted to "Castile, The Feast of Bread". The male figure on the right can be identified in the central part of the final panel. The composition we see here is a constant in the studies of this period, with life-size, full-length, standing figures in a frontal position, forming pairs or groups in an almost photographic pose in a more or less neutral setting. The parallel with Laurent's photographs in the Sorolla Museum is evident. The focus is thus on the costume and the faces, which show the physiognomic variants that characterise the different regional types.