Fishmarket

This sculpture has fascinated me for years. It is 'El Retablo del Mar' by the sculptor Sebastián Miranda (1885-1975), housed in the Casa Natal de Jovellanos museum.

It represents Gijon's harbourside fishmarket 'La Rula', adjacent to the fishermans' quarter of Cimadevilla. The people in the sculpture were locals, many of whom have been identified. The local women carried out the auctions using the dutch auction method, starting with a high price and lowering it until a bidder accepted the price.

The version here, made of pine, was completed in 1972 towards the end of Miranda's life, with the use of assistant scultors. His first version was of painted plaster, completed in 1933 but sadly destroyed during the Civil War. Fortunately a detailed photograph of the original still exists.

One of the local bars here has a large scale copy of the photo of the original hanging on the wall. I spend many a moment gazing at it and trying to spot family resemblences between the 1930's residents of Cimadevilla those of today.

One curiosity is that in the original 1933 version the facial characteristics are much more striking, especially those of the elder people who appear more characterful (haggered), than they do in the 1972 version.

It is supposed that when he produced the original, being relatively young and from a well to do background, the elder locals in particular would have seemed more aged to him than they did when he produced the final version and was himself in his seventies.

There are other differences between this version and the original. In the original the Collegiate Chapel of St. John the Baptist is visible through the left hand entrance, whereas in the latter there is a fishwife carrying a basket up a street. Also, apart from the faces of the individuals being somewhat 'sweeter', there are fewer individuals represented, particularly in the bottom left section.

While at the museum I purchased a book about the history of the Retablo, so I shall continue to indulge my interest.