The piece, with a theme that is rare in the artist’s production, reveals the interest he must have felt for the Baroque motifs found in the vanitas he had the chance to see in the Prado museum, where he copied works by José de Ribera (1591-1652) and, above all, Diego Velázquez (1599-1660). He would only use this theme again in the painting Postrimerías (Dying Moments), ca. 1884, where the same skull appears—also without a lower jaw—resting on an open book among other objects.

He produced this piece at a time when he was painting historical and genre scenes, his palette was still dark and more homogenous, and his brushwork was leaner and thinner.

Done in Madrid on heavy English cardboard, primed to sketch in oils, it reveals an interest not only in the motif, which was clearly painted from nature, but also in the atmosphere surrounding it. The light subtly emphasises the textures of the skull, showing the pink and blue reflections on its surface. By means of a thin glaze the skull, which is missing the lower jaw, blends in with the background and with the reddish cloth on which it seems to rest.

The artist gifted this piece, along with five small-size copies of paintings by Velazquez, to Amalio Gimeno, Count of Gimeno, a full member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, whom he had known since his early youth. When Gimeno died, his widow sold these works to Álvaro Figueroa, Count of Romanones, also a member of the Academy, and it is from here that this painting entered the BBVA Collection.

The back has a certification written by the painter Manuel Benedito: “el gran Sorolla pintó el cuadrito/Cráneo el año 1883 y las copias/de Velázquez (cabezas) el año/1884 año este que visitó el maestro/por primera vez Madrid/M. Benedito [rubricado]” (The great Sorolla painted the little painting/skull in 1883, and the copies/of Velázquez (heads) in the year/1884 the year when the master/first visited Madrid/M.Benedito [signed])