The death of Pedro Velarde y Santillán during the defence of the Monteleon Artillery Barracks.

On ground strewn with bodies, an officer leans dying against a cannon wheel while the people of Madrid pour out to fight. The young Sorolla made this huge battle scene to win a medal, and it opened the door to his career.

The story behind the painting

The painting shows the defence of the Monteleon artillery park during the uprising of 2 May 1808 in Madrid. Sorolla painted it expressly for the National Exhibition of 1884. Disappointed after several failures at an earlier exhibition, he decided to paint a monumental canvas, 4 by 5.80 metres instead of the usual 4 by 3, and to keep strictly to the dramatic historical subjects that were fashionable then. It is signed and dated at lower left: Sorolla, Valencia, 1884. The sources disagree on the date: the French Wikipedia article and the signature give 1884, while Wikidata records 1886.

What to look for

Two officers, Luis Daoiz and Pedro Velarde, who commanded the defence, dominate the centre. Velarde, fatally wounded by a shot, leans on the wheel of a cannon, while Daoiz stands with his sabre in hand, trying to organise the resistance. Behind them, wrapped in the haze and smoke of battle, men and women of every class and condition stream out through the gate of the park to face the French. More than thirty figures make up the scene, treated with strong realism and deep drama. Sorolla uses a quick, thick brushstroke to give the dark, gloomy atmosphere of a battle, even though it takes place in open air and full daylight.

Meaning and intent

Critics welcomed the work warmly, praising the sublime fury of a free people against the invader trying to enslave it, and the courage that comes from it. Others found Velarde's gesture and pose too theatrical. Sorolla himself was clear about his strategy. In his own words, quoted by the source, to make oneself known and win medals here, one has to paint dead people. The canvas is therefore both a patriotic memory of 1808 and a calculated step by an ambitious young painter who understood what the juries of his time rewarded.

Legacy

The painting received the second prize at the Exhibition, which helped Sorolla enormously: by his own account, it was thanks to this distinction that he began to gain prestige and recognition. In this early work the originality of the Valencian master can already be seen. The canvas is kept today at the Biblioteca Museu Victor Balaguer in Vilanova i la Geltru, near Barcelona. For viewers who know Sorolla for his later sunlit beaches, it is a striking reminder that his path began in the smoke and darkness of a history painting.