Sepulveda

Sepulveda, painted in 1909 and held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, depicts one of the most dramatic medieval towns of Old Castile — the fortified village perched above the gorge of the Duratón River in Segovia province. Sepúlveda's spectacular topography — a ridge of rock isolated on three sides by sheer cliffs — made it a natural subject for a painter interested in the visual drama of Castilian geography. By 1909, Zuloaga had established Segovia province as the center of his pictorial world: he lived part of each year in Segovia and used its landscapes as repeated subjects. The National Gallery of Art's acquisition of this work reflects the American institutional interest in Zuloaga that culminated in his celebrated 1925 New York exhibition. Sepúlveda also carried historical significance — it was one of the frontier towns of the Reconquista, repeatedly contested between Christian and Moorish powers, and its medieval character was still largely intact in Zuloaga's time.

The rocky topography is treated with Zuloaga's characteristic geological impasto — the cliffs and rock faces built up with palette knife and stiff brush. The town's rooftiles provide the only warm accent against grey rock and blue sky. The compositional viewpoint is typically panoramic, embracing the full drama of the site's isolation.