SEBASTIÃN MIRANDA (Oviedo, 1885-Madrid, 1975).
"Bullfighter", 1912.
Cast bronze.
With foundry stamp.
Signed and dated on the base.
Measurements: 32 x 19 x 16 cm.
A Spanish sculptor, Sebastián Miranda began his training at the School of Fine Arts in Oviedo and in 1905 he moved to Germany, where he studied at the Polytechnic Institute of Bingen. He travelled around Europe and after a two-year stay in Rome he settled in Madrid. There he graduated in Law and became acquainted with Ramón Pérez de Ayala and Ignacio Zuloaga. In 1926 he moved to Gijón, where in 1932 he produced his most significant work, Retablo del mar ("Altarpiece of the Sea"). In 1936 he fled to France because of the Civil War and lived in Paris until 1941, when he returned to Madrid. His early work is marked by a certain regionalist realism, with portraits of popular types. He also produced wooden sculptures with touches of polychromy and even inlaid with modernist-style gemstones, but his main and most widely known work is characterised by an anecdotal realism of great expressive force, which is shown in small, fresh pieces such as Maternidades gitanas ("Gypsy Maternities"), Dos toreros y un marqués ("Two Bullfighters and a Marquis"), Gitanos del pandero ("Gypsies of the Tambourine Drum") and Mi criada gallega ("My Galician Maid"). The Prado work corresponds to this typology. He also carried out important work as a portrait painter, including sculptures of Indalecio Prieto, Pío Baroja, Azorín, Conchita Montes and Juan Belmonte, among others.