Francisco Miralles

FRANCISCO MIRALLES I GALAUP (Valencia, 1848 - Barcelona, 1901).
"Cricket players".
Watercolor on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 28 x 22 cm; 40 x 34 cm (frame).
This watercolor, which represents a bourgeois scene with two women and a boy playing cricket in a park, is an eloquent example of the costumbrista refinement characteristic of this 19th century Valencian painter. The scene takes place in a landscaped setting, probably an urban park, where the well-tended vegetation, the gravel paths and the presence of other figures walking or talking in the background, reinforce the atmosphere of elegant leisure typical of the high bourgeoisie of the time.
The two women - dressed in strolling dresses, wide hats and gloves - embody the nineteenth-century feminine ideal: grace, composure and attention to the social norms of decorum. Despite their active participation in the game, their attitude remains restrained, closer to an affectionate gesture towards the child than to a real competition.
Miralles uses a loose and light brushstroke, typical of the watercolor technique, with which he manages to capture the diffuse light of the day, the reflections of the dresses and the green hues of the vegetation. The details are suggested rather than defined, which contributes to a general sensation of freshness and spontaneity.

Francisco Miralles was trained in Barcelona in the workshop of Ramón Martí Alsina, where he was a fellow disciple of the first generation of Catalan realists. Little is preserved of Miralles' production in this first stage, although the dozen paintings that we have tell us of a young painter who quickly learned to treat the figure with mastery, still not very interested in landscape painting. Settled in Paris since the mid-1860s (around 1865-66), it is possible that he studied with Courbet on the advice of Martí Alsina, who also trained with the French master. Due to these influences, his youthful style, until the late seventies, is still vigorously realistic. Later he evolved towards a style of feminine elegance, typically fin-de-siècle, with a technique of fortunist influence. In Paris he popularized a refined style, centered mainly on costumbrist themes of bourgeois life and high society, mainly featuring female characters. In Paris Miralles lived a free and carefree life, at first depending economically on his family, and later supporting himself by his own means, thanks to the sales of his paintings that he made through the most prominent art dealer in Paris at the time, Goupil. At the same time, he participated in the Salon des Artistes Français between 1875 and 1896. He made several trips to Barcelona, and in fact he exhibited from 1877 at the Sala Parés in that city. After several years between Paris and Barcelona, he returned to Barcelona in 1893. Francisco Miralles is represented in the MACBA, the Abbey of Montserrat and the Círculo del Liceo de Barcelona, as well as in important private collections.