Cecilio Pla with his Wife Valentina and Daughters Pepita and Cristina
1910 - 1912. Gelatin / Collodion.Not on display
This photograph depicts the entire Pla Navarro family (Pepita, Cecilio, Valentina and Cristina) portrayed in an interior space that appears to be a hallway. The adults are dressed in dark clothing while the girls wear white dresses. This is a modern copy of a photograph taken in the early 20th century.
Cecilio Pla married Valentina Navarro Alconero on 9 November 1900. The couple subsequently moved to 1 Glorieta de Bilbao, where their first-born daughter Josefa (Pepita) was born in 1901. Their daughter Cristina was born in 1903, when the family had moved into a mezzanine at 524 Calle Malasaña, next to the house where her Aunt Pepa lived until her death in 1909.
The artist’s wife and daughters were central to the his life. He shared his years of artistic maturity with them: they were models for his paintings as well as the subjects of a large number of photographs.
Sánchez Torija, Beatriz, Cecilio Pla y su relación con la fotografía.. Boletín del Museo del Prado, 2019-2021, p.167-179, f.1
