Leon Gallery wishes to thank Mrs. Sylvia AmorsoloLazo for confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by Mrs. Ethel Thomas Herold in 1949, thence by descent.

ABOUT THE WORK

Trained in a Classical-Romantic art tradition, Fernando Amorsolo adapted its styles and techniques in his paintings of the Philippine rural life and familiar figures. The lavandera, specifically, is one of his most favorite subject matters in his oil paintings. Amorsolo would compose his lavanderas with other figures such as children playing or taking a swim or family members taking a bath after doing laundry, varied compositions set in the woods and streams. His ideal beautiful women reside in pastoral landscapes of lush trees and waters, hence the unspoiled beauty of nature as background in his masterpieces. This piece is set in a tropical afternoon; sunlight touches the skin of the figures in the shallow stream, highlighting their poses and curves. Women are poised in the act of getting water for bathing, dressing, and washing laundry. The banga used for carrying water, held by one of the women in one hand, is a notable Amorsolo artistic symbol that serves as a mark of the idyllic rural life. Children are also playing in the stream. It is in Amorsolo’s lavandera pieces in which one gets introduced to the great artist’s admiration of the feminine beauty and movement. Women are portrayed as graceful and carefree, even in the act of doing a chore, in picturesque settings of rich shades of green and ochres that take viewers to a serene day of basking in the light of the midday sun and enjoying the coolness of water.