Regarded as one of the major names in Basque fin-de-siècle painting, Manuel Losada is closely associated with images from Bilbao’s old past, a subject matter he cultivated throughout his life. He focused particularly on the depiction of urban scenes shrouded in the atmosphere of the second half of the nineteenth century, thus leaving for posterity highly interesting visual records. He stood out for his acumen and adroit choice of the settings and historical moments for his scenes, in which he depicted easily recognisable iconic places. His frequent representation of images of old Bilbao clearly responded to a demand within the art market at the time, in which many buyers were eager to collect fragments from the past.

This success surely influenced Losada’s nostalgic approach, who mainly used pastels to represent events with a certain historical import. That is the case of this work, which depicts the building of Banco de Bilbao in Plaza de San Nicolás during the siege of Bilbao in 1874. This historical episode was one of the main events in the history of Bilbao in the second half of the nineteenth century. The city, which sided with the moderate liberals, suffered the siege of the Carlist troops for over four months, during which it protected its buildings to prevent their deterioration and destruction. Far from recreating the placid bourgeois scenes he was so fond of, here he decided to portray the military occupation of Plaza de San Nicolás with great realism.

When the siege took place, Losada was just nine years old, and he moved with his family to Santander, so therefore it is unlikely that he could have painted this work from a childhood memory of the event. It is all too logical to think that he would have used an old photograph as a direct iconographic source, as he often did in his practice. Additionally, some images in the Archivo Foral de Bizkaia, and also in the BBVA History Archive, would seem to provide further evidence that he would have used this means as his reference. And although the harsh reality of the event is not rendered in his signature colourful pastels, both format and framing are very similar. It faithfully depicts all the details, like the soldiers, the sandbags or the cowhides placed in the windows to protect the building. We should not forget that the artist was very familiar with the subject matter as a result of his contribution as an illustrator to a leaflet published in 1887 to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the Siege.

Apart from its documentary relevance, this painting is also noteworthy because it is an excellent example of the artist’s skill with pastels, a technique he used throughout his career. It shows a highly refined style as well as a very modern treatment of colour and light. This mastery was probably accrued during his time in Paris, where he was a first-hand witness of the development of the new movements that changed painting in the closing third of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Indeed, it was in Paris where he discovered Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and it would seem likely that his accomplished use of pastel was owing to his particular admiration for Edgar Degas (1834-1917). His frequent and masterly use of pastel, impossible to find in other Spanish artists from his time, gives Losada an exceptional place in the history of Spanish painting.

As is the case of most of his paintings, the work in hand was not dated, and the fact that the artist’s style remained virtually unchanged throughout his career makes it difficult to date it accurately. In addition, the only known documentation on the artist’s oeuvre are the surviving records of commissions or of his participation in exhibitions. We do know however that Losada painted several works with this subject matter in the 1920s, which leads us to believe that this work could have been made in that period.