Antoni Casanovas i Torrents

ANTONI CASANOVAS I TORRENTS (Barcelona, 1752-1796).
"The shoemaker's house".
Ink and gouache on paper.
Signed.
Measurements: 23,5 x 32 cm.

Antoni Casanovas was a Catalan draftsman and painter of the eighteenth century. He was one of the members of a large family of Barcelona artists (Joan Casanovas, Joan Casanovas Ricart, Abdó Ricart, Manuel Arrau and Francesc Vives). He trained under Manuel Tramulles and became a friend of the painter Mariano Catà de la Vall. On November 30, 1777 he took the exams to obtain the painter's license, sponsored by Tramulles. He obtained the license two years later. In 1783 he decorated the facade of the house of Gil Grau in the square of the Encants in Barcelona. He competed for an assistant position at the School of Drawing, and in 1784 he competed against his own master for the position of painter at the Barcelona City Hall. In 1785, shortly before his disappearance, he was appointed Consul of the College of Painters, along with Pere Ferrer and Josep Padrós.

Almost none of his work is preserved, except for several drawings, such as the one shown here. Some of them are preserved in the collection of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, from the private collection of Raimon Casellas, acquired in 1911 by the Board of Museums.