"The Cachirulo". CACHIRULO WITH CARICATURE OF THE MUSICIAN ROBERTO SEGURA, 1883



Oil on canvas 105 x 88 cm. (without frame) The current measurements are somewhat lower than the originals, as can be seen in the numerous old reproductions in magazines and the press.



Unsigned



The cachirulo or cacherulo is the Valencian name given to kites. In Valencia, during the Easter Resurrection festivities, it was a custom of the Círculo de Bellas Artes to organize contests for decorated Easter cakes and monkeys. It was also customary that they were then auctioned and with the money obtained, Easter monkeys were bought for the children in the nursing homes.



This Cachirulo with a caricature of the musician Roberto Segura, we know that it was painted by Joaquín Sorolla Bastida in Valencia, the year 1883, because in the Municipal Archive of Valencia, there is a letter from Sorolla to Antonio Sala, dated in Valencia on May 7, 1883, in which he tells him that he is painting "cacherulos" (see number 146 of " Valencia Attraction”, March 1947). Also in this magazine it is stated that this little piece of art was presented at the exhibition organized by the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Valencia between April 5 and 9, 1924, something that had already appeared in the press that year. In the Ribalta magazine of April 1949, it is stated that he also appeared in the Exposición de cachirulos of the Círculo de Bellas Artes that year.



The musician Roberto Segura, who in Sorolla''s caricature seems to rise through the air over the domes Moved by the impulse of some musical notes, he was a piano teacher for Clotilde García del Castillo, Sorolla''s girlfriend at the time, according to his sister Pepita in an article published in Levante on April 2, 1961, in which she adds that Sorolla painted two little things because her sister liked to go up to the terrace of her house and fly the kites. It also makes reference to the fact that the other little thing disappeared.



Despite the different versions that exist about its origin, the work belonged to the caricatured musician, a friend of the artist, and his descendants auctioned it off in Barcelona in 1980, where it was acquired by the Valencian collector Manuel Tur.



There are numerous newspaper articles and magazines in which the cachirulo painted by Sorolla is reproduced in its original size. The first, Las Provincias, 4-20-1924, the year after Sorolla''s death, coinciding with the presence of the work in the exhibition of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Valencia that year, which Rusiñol attended; ABC, (Sunday), 1931; The Provinces, 4-24-1940; Valencia Attraction, February 1947; Valencia Attraction, March 1947; The Provinces, 4-12-1947; The Provinces, 2-4-1961; Lift, 2-4-1961; The Provinces, 4-14-1974; The Provinces, 4-22-1984; The Provinces, 30-3-1986; The Provinces, 3-29-1989; Las Provincias, 16-4-1995 and “Revista del Siglo XX” (Las Provincias), 12-11-2000.

The only one that appears reproduced in its current size is in an article titled “The pimp that Sorolla painted at his novia”, Las Provincias, 3-23-1995.



There is a certificate of authenticity issued by Francisco Pons-Sorolla y Arnau, on February 2, 1985.



The inventory number of this work in the catalog raisonné it is BPS 75.



We thank Mrs. Blanca Pons-Sorolla for her collaboration in the cataloging of this lot. 105 x 88cm