During my enchanting art-filled journey through Andalusia in October 2023, my steps led me to the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville. Amidst the myriad of captivating artworks, one masterpiece in particular bewitched my senses. It went by the name "Sevillana en su patio" (Seville's Belle in her Courtyard), and it portrayed a serene maiden clad in pure white, gracefully reclining on a divan within a Sevillian courtyard. This picturesque scene evoked the spirit of the Belle Époque, forsaking the rigidity of tradition for an air of casual and carefree elegance that defined that era.
Crafted in 1918 by Seville's own Diego López García, a prodigious artist who embarked on his creative journey at the tender age of ten within the hallowed halls of the Academy of Fine Arts in Seville. Under the tutelage of maestros like García Ramos and Eduardo Cano, he honed his craft, swiftly rising to prominence when the City of Seville bestowed accolades upon two of his creations during the city's grand festivities in 1902 and 1908.
Though he remained rooted in Seville throughout his life, drawing his last breath in the late 1960s, Diego López García's artistic palette was enriched through extensive travels to lands such as Italy, France, Germany, England, the United States, and Mexico. With an attentive ear to evolving trends, he even exhibited his works in these distant corners of the world.
In "Sevillana en su patio," he not only captured the unburdened beauty and audacious allure of the Seville model María Romero but etched his name in history with this masterpiece.
By the time María Romero posed for Diego López García, she had become a seasoned professional, having served as a muse in 1914 for none other than Joaquín Sorolla. The great Sorolla journeyed to Seville during those years, seeking inspiration for his magnum opus, the "Visión de España" series, commissioned by The Hispanic Society of America, and now enshrined in their headquarters in New York. María Romero, then toiling in a modest sewing workshop, was destined for artistic immortality.
Sorolla, with an astute eye, recognized in María Romero a beauty imbued with both racial essence and unwavering self-assuredness. Yet, her youth demanded her father's consent to grace Sorolla's canvases. Captivated by her unadulterated allure, Sorolla painted her on multiple occasions. One of these captivating portraits, titled with the affectionate moniker by which she was known in Seville, "María la guapa" (Beautiful María), remains an exquisite treasure within the Sorolla Museum.
