God Bids Us Forgive!
1895. Oil.On display elsewhere
Taking its cue from serialised fiction, the work narrates the return to her father’s home of a girl and her daughter, the fruit of an extra-marital relationship. Kneeling, she implores clemency from her father, whose anger is placated by a priest who reminds him of the duty to forgive. The emotional strength of the painting won it an award at the 1895 National Exhibition, whose jury chose to ignore a deficient composition that nonetheless has its aspirations, since the artist based it on models by Caravaggio and Velázquez. Its acquisition by the State legitimised the discourse that defined the position of woman in the patriarchal society of the time.
G. Navarro, Carlos, Invitadas. Fragmentos sobre mujeres, ideología y artes plásticas en España (1833-1931), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2020, p.160 nº 16
