The Mubag Adds 'Las doce' by Pla y Gallardo to Its Collection, Loaned by the Prado for Five Years

El Museo de Bellas Artes de Alicante has added the 19th-century work 'Las doce' by Cecilio Pla y Gallardo to its collection, on loan from the Museo del Prado. The painting joins the 28 other works the MUBAG has on loan from the Madrid gallery, 27 of which are part of the permanent exhibition.

'Las doce' can now be viewed in the exhibition section titled 'La pintura, testigo social', which features other socially themed works by artists such as Antonio Fillol Granell, Joaquín Bárbara y Balza, Federico Godoy Castro, Heliodoro Guillén Pedemonti, Vicente Poveda Juan, and Luis García Sampedro, most of which are also on loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado.

Despite its social theme, highlighted by the serious expression of the man, the family's breadwinner working as a bricklayer, and the presence of his wife in the background preparing lunch, the painting is also known for its exceptional treatment of light by Pla.

The family is depicted having lunch in the shade, hence the title of the work, with food brought by the woman, which she takes from the basket and places on the ground on an improvised cloth, while their child sleeps in her lap. Influenced by realism and academic drawing, the painting is noted for the quality with which the food, the clay pot, and the glass bottle of wine are depicted.

This canvas is the second by Cecilio Pla deposited by the Museo del Prado, as the MUBAG has had 'Mujer en la playa' since 2021, a work similar in style to other paintings by Sorolla or Pinazo, contemporaries of Pla, depicting the upper class vacationing on Spanish coasts.

Alongside the MUBAG, over 280 institutions are part of the 'Prado Extendido' initiative, an ambitious project aimed at projecting the Museo del Prado's collection nationally, promoting the management of its loans to enhance the presence, visibility, and access to its works throughout Spain. 'Las doce' was restored in the Prado workshops to be part of the temporary exhibition 'Invitadas. Fragmentos sobre mujeres, ideología y artes plásticas en España (1833-1931)', held at the museum between 2020 and 2021, and will now be enjoyed for five years in the Alicante museum's galleries.