Francesc Torrescassana

FRANCESC TORRESCASSANA SELLARÉS (Barcelona, 1845 - 1918).
"Portrait of Paula Planella.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 63 x 50 cm; 75 x 63 cm (frame).
Prasentaslight losses of paint.

Francesc Torrescassana studied at the School of La Lonja in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Ramón Martí Alsina. In 1864 he was awarded an honorable mention at the National Exhibition in Madrid. After receiving a pension in Rome, he traveled to Paris, where he came into contact with the main pictorial currents of the time. On his return to Barcelona, he dedicated himself to the production of history paintings and paintings of customs. In 1899 he attended the inauguration of the Suez Canal, where he made several reportage paintings. At first his painting reflects a profound influence of his master, within a bourgeois realism. However, little by little he distanced himself from Martí Alsina's style, working with a softer and sweeter palette. In the last twenty years of his life he dedicated himself to landscapes, with a great quality of light and transparency, built on textures, where parallels with impressionism can be perceived. During these years he also worked on portraits, a genre in which the portrait of Miquel Vilaregut (1911) stands out. It was during this period that his personality and creative vivacity were reaffirmed. In 1934 a monographic exhibition of his work was dedicated to him at the Syra Galleries in Barcelona. His works are preserved in the Museums of Contemporary Art in Barcelona and Madrid, the Abbey of Montserrat and the Louvre in Paris, as well as in the Casa Vicens of Antonio Gaudí, in Barcelona.