The Hermit

Zuloaga painted 'The Hermit' in 1904, a time when American collections were actively acquiring his work. The hermit as subject — a solitary religious figure withdrawn into contemplation — carried deep resonances in Spanish cultural tradition, from the golden age religious paintings of Ribera and Zurbarán through various Romantic reinventions of the ascetic. Zuloaga's treatment brings together his characteristic elements: the severe Spanish landscape, the powerful dark-clad figure, the psychological intensity generated by his handling of the subject's gaze. His engagement with Spanish popular and religious subjects had won him the reputation of retrieving the true soul of Spain from beneath prettified Orientalism. By 1904 he was famous internationally, exhibiting with great success in Paris, Berlin, and New York. The Saint Louis Art Museum was among the most active American acquirers of contemporary European art in the early twentieth century.

Zuloaga's characteristic technique — broad brushwork, deep tonal contrasts, a palette of blacks, ochres, and cool blues — is applied with full confidence to this monumental figure composition. The texture of the dark robes is built up with evident physical engagement.