Attributed to Antoni Gaudí

Attributed to ANTONI GAUDÍ (Reus or Riudoms, Tarragona, 1852 - Barcelona, 1926).
Niche, ca.1900-1905.
Carved and gilded wood.
Measurements: 105 x 40 x 22 cm.

Gaudí's designs for religious architecture, specifically in the supports of tabernacles and corbels, were characterized by the combination of angelic and mythological figures with delicate forms of organic inspiration that made the master of Reus the greatest exponent of Catalan modernism. The niche in question contains a small hollow for a chapel, guarded by a cherub with open wings. The whole has a typically Gaudí design, and a remarkable workmanship in every detail of its gilded carving. The structural element starts with a flaming interlacing of enveloping scrolls. Around the niche, the structure continues uninterruptedly in cottony-looking, layered designs, which culminate in a scallop whose striated blades harmonize with the pleated bangs that complete the ornamentation. A winged nymph with long wavy hair peeks her head over a promontory covered with floral bouquets that proliferate around rockery motifs. As for the floral bouquets, each corolla has also been worked with individualized and precise work. In short, the carving is brimming with exquisite hallmarks between rough, ethereal, textured and silky qualities. This piece shares the deep spirituality of the modernist genius, through whose architectural work he wanted to combat modern materialism, promoting religious sentiment through the sublimity of an art that reinvented the Gothic legacy.

The maximum representative of Catalan modernism, Gaudí is one of the most outstanding architects and decorators in European history. Already as a child he liked hiking, the direct contact with nature. Having stood out as a child for his drawings, he studied architecture at the Escuela de la Llotja and the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, where he graduated in 1878. With his first major commission, the Casa Vicens, Gaudí began to acquire renown, and to attract increasingly larger commissions. In 1878 he exhibited at the Universal Exposition in Paris a showcase made for the Comella glove shop. This piece, with its modernist and functional design, impressed the industrialist Eusebi Güell, a key figure in Gaudí's artistic biography. In fact, Güell was, in addition to being Gaudí's great friend, his main patron, and commissioned some of his most outstanding works, such as the Park Güell. In 1883 he accepted the commission to continue the work on the Sagrada Familia; Gaudí totally modified the initial project, and this construction became his masterpiece, on which he worked until the day of his death. This project was followed by other important commissions, such as the episcopal palace of Astorga, the Batlló and Milá houses and the restoration of the cathedral of Palma de Mallorca. In 1910 the first exhibition dedicated to Gaudí was held at the Grand Palais in Paris. After his death, important retrospectives of the architect were held, including the one at the MOMA in New York, his first major international exhibition, which took place in 1957. Since the mid-twentieth century Gaudí's appreciation has been increasing, culminating with the proclamation of several of his works as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1984 (Park Güell, Palacio Güell and Casa Milá), and 2005 (crypt and apse of the Sagrada Familia, the houses Vicens and Batlló and the crypt of the Colonia Güell). Gaudí's designs for furniture and decorative arts can currently be admired at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the MOMA in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, as well as in his House-Museum in Park Güell.