Enrique Serra y Auqué

ENRIQUE SERRA Y AUQUÉ (Barcelona, 1859-Rome, 1918).
"Jeune fille à la houe" and "La procession". Rome, 1890 and 1892.
Pair of oil paintings on canvas.
Signed, located and dated in the lower left corner.
The other signed, located in Rome and dated 1890 in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 115 x 70 cm each.

Pair of oil paintings by Enrique Serra y Auqué, made during his Roman period, a key moment in the consolidation of his pictorial language. Both works present female figures in open landscapes, treated with an atmospheric delicacy very characteristic of the artist, where light, silence and rural poetry acquire a leading role.

In "Jeune fille à la houe", the young peasant girl appears immersed in a twilight landscape, with a tool over her shoulder and a serene, almost contemplative attitude. The warm range, the veiled sky and the dry vegetation build an image of great lyricism, between the genre scene and the symbolic evocation of peasant work.

In "La procession", the female figure advances along a flowery path, accompanied in the background by a small procession. The composition, with a more spiritual air, combines landscape, popular religiosity and a subtle idealization of the figure, creating a luminous and enveloping atmosphere.

Enrique Serra y Auqué trained at the La Lonja School in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Ramón Martí Alsina and Domingo Talarn. In 1879 he moved to Rome thanks to a scholarship, a city where he developed a good part of his career and where he achieved notable recognition. He received important commissions, among them from Pope Leo XIII, and maintained a relationship with Mariano Fortuny.

He participated in national and international competitions, such as the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888, the Fine Arts Exhibitions of Barcelona and the National Exhibition of Madrid in 1895, where he obtained a Third Medal. His work, especially focused on Italian landscapes and visions of the Pontine lagoons, is characterized by a melancholic atmosphere, a delicate light and a refined workmanship.

He is represented in important collections and museums, including the Vatican Museums, the Prado Museum, and museums in Glasgow, Magdeburg, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona and Alava.