Portrait of a Caballero

Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla painted this portrait of a Spanish gentleman in 1884, when the artist was about twenty-one years old and developing his distinctive style. The work measures 52.1 x 41.6 cm in oil on canvas, showing a caballero, or gentleman, rendered with the emerging Impressionist sensibility that would later make Sorolla famous.

This early portrait was created the same year as his dramatic history painting "The Death of Pedro Velarde," showing the range of subjects Sorolla tackled during his formative years. Though now celebrated for his sun-drenched beach scenes and luminous garden views from Valencia, his early career included many portrait commissions.

The work held in a private collection. Major holdings of Sorolla's work can be found at the Sorolla Museum in Madrid and the Hispanic Society of America in New York.