Julio Borrell

JULIO BORRELL PLA (Barcelona, 1877–1957).
“Village Boundary Cross.”
Oil on canvas.
Signed.
Measurements: 92 x 61 cm; 108 x 77 cm (frame).

The son and student of Pere Borrell del Caso, Julio Borrell trained at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. From his father, he was influenced by the Nazarene painters Claudio Lorenzale and Pablo Milà i Fontanals. In 1888, at the age of eleven, he entered a painting in the Barcelona competition at the World’s Fair, alongside his brother Ramón, who was also a painter. Beginning in 1894, he took part in nearly all the official exhibitions held in Barcelona and Madrid, receiving an honorable mention in 1897. That same year, he won a second medal at the exhibition in Arcachon, France. His name gained particular prominence during his exhibitions at the Sala Parés in Barcelona between 1915 and 1920. His extensive body of work includes both oil and pastel paintings and covers a wide range of subjects. The subject he most frequently depicted was that of the classic Spanish maja—women wearing mantillas and peinetas—captured in his personal, sensuous style, with extraordinary skill and a masterful command of drawing. Among his many paintings, some of which have been widely reproduced, it is worth mentioning “El viático al Liceo,” “Lavapiés on Holy Thursday,” “Royal Weddings,” which he painted on commission from King Alfonso XIII, “Honeymoon,” “The Triumph of Christianity,” etc. He also devoted himself to decorative painting, creating religious murals for the Church of San Francisco in Buenos Aires and the dome of the Basilica of La Merced in Barcelona, which was destroyed in 1936. Throughout his career, Borrell held numerous solo exhibitions at various galleries in Barcelona and participated in group shows and competitions. Many of his works are on display at the MACBA, as well as at the National Art Museum of Catalonia and other institutions.