Joaquín Sorolla García dressed in white

In 1896 Sorolla was still building his reputation, working out of Madrid and painting the people closest to him. This is his young son and namesake, Joaquin, perhaps four years old, seated in a full white suit on a wooden bench. Sorolla loved a problem like this, white cloth in bright light, where the shadows turn faintly blue and lilac rather than grey. Within a few years he would be famous across Europe and America for exactly this handling of sunlight, painting on the beaches of Valencia. Here it is turned on a small boy holding still for his father. The family later gave the picture to the Madrid house that is now the Sorolla Museum.