Francesc Blanch Sintes

FRANCESC BLANCH SINTES (Barcelona, 1867-1932).
"Saint Louis buries crusaders in Sidon, year 1253", 1917.
Watercolor drawing on cardboard.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
22 x 32 cm (drawing); 32 x 32 cm (total).

This painting, signed by Francesc Blanch Sintes in 1917, shows a historical-war scene with a marked narrative drama. In the foreground, there are numerous corpses of knights, recognizable by their white tunics with red crosses, which refers to the crusaders.

Among them rises the central figure of an upright knight, distinguishable by his blue tunic with golden fleurs-de-lis, a royal attribute that refers unequivocally to Saint Louis of France. This personage holds in his arms the lifeless body of a fallen soldier, in a gesture of solemn compassion that transfigures pain into an act of mercy. To the right of the scene, a group of mounted knights, with richly harnessed horses, brandish shields and banners. In their vanguard stands the figure of a cleric who, with raised hand, seems to pronounce a blessing or exhortation, charging the atmosphere with a sacred halo that contrasts with the surrounding devastation. The background shows the walls of a fortified city, a probable allusion to the square of Sidon, while the sky, dense and darkened, is populated by black birds flying overhead as dire symbols of death and desolation. This allegorical nature intensifies the drama of the whole, placing the action on the threshold between history and myth.

The watercolor, narrative in mood, articulates a vision in which heroism, sacrifice and religious memory merge into a powerful image, destined to move the viewer and to insert the crusade episode in the great genealogy of the sacred and chivalric history of the West.