This interesting work by Pérez Villalta highlights the mastery of an artist endowed with an intense inner life. Although he initially studied architecture, he dropped out to take up painting, which he learned largely by himself. On trips to Paris and London in the 1970s, the artist became familiar with Neo-, mythology and Italian , and had a chance to admire works by Raphael (1483-1520) and by Parmigianino (1503-1540).

Despite being intimately conversant with Pop imagery, his practise engaged more with

 Metaphysical painting 

An art movement that emerged in Italy in the opening decade of the twentieth century, under the auspices of Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) and Carlo Carrà (1881-1966) after both met in Ferrara. The quiet streets of that city inspired the dreamlike scenes of the metaphysical artists, in which, despite the normal appearance, a totally surrealist atmosphere is created, with all human presence absent from the painting. Metaphysical Painting emerged as a response to the need to represent the world of dreams, of the subconscious, transcending physical reality. It was a driving force for the creation of Dada and Surrealism.

. Employing a distinctly mannerist style, he combined figuration with geometry, which he had assimilated well thanks to his studies of architecture. Pérez Villalta, who exhibited his works at Galería Amadís, was widely recognised as one of the most outstanding members of the movement known as

 New Figuration 

an art movement from Madrid in the early 1970s. Its defining feature was a provocative use of colour in response to the darkness and the Informalismo of preceding periods. Its members defended the creation of art rooted in Spanish tradition, removed from the trends prevailing in Europe at the time.

, and the author of its legendary group portrait.

Carmen Bernárdez argued that there was a parallel between this piece and a page from a Book of Hours: two characters working the land in a medieval hortus conclusus, when time has come to a halt in an enclosed space dominated by a trapezoid-shaped geometric element reminiscent of a watchtower. Pérez Villalta synthesises the formal and chromatic composition, in this case, using a medieval perspective eschewing both spatial and figurative three-dimensionality.