Allegory of Valencia and Allegory are sketches for two murals that Lahuerta was commissioned to paint in 1960 for the public trading area of the Banco de España branch office in the city of Valencia. However, the final works were never painted.  They show similarities with two allegories in the Naval Museum in Madrid (Allegory of the Navy and Allegory of Fishing).

This gouache has a symmetrical structure and seems intended for a mural or a twill weave to be placed at a specific point on the trading floor, as it is irregularly shaped. From behind a pair of open red curtains tied at the sides, the figure of Fame appears at the top of the picture on a cloudscape bathed in the light typical of Spain's eastern seaboard. At the bottom of the picture are three figures that seem to represent landscapes of Valencia: the bare-breasted woman symbolises the sea and the peasant with a hoe on his shoulder the countryside. The symmetry of the work is upset slightly by the crouching third figure, accompanied by still-life compositions comprising common objects and simple foodstuffs on the ground: a clay water jug, a watermelon, fruit, baskets of fish, etc.

Isabel Tejeda