Eusebi Arnau

EUSEBI ARNAU MASCORT (Barcelona, 1863–1933).
Original prototype for a safe. Barcelona, ca. 1903.
Carved and gilded solid wood; polychrome plaster; metal hardware.
Relief carvings depicting the Deadly Sins, plant motifs, and zoomorphic figures.
Signed “E. Arnau” on the lower part of the right door.
It has minor damage and a few cracks.
Measurements: 216 x 110 x 80 cm.

Original design for a safe conceived by Eusebi Arnau Mascort, an exceptional work due to its hybrid nature—part furniture, part applied sculpture, and part symbolic object. The structure, with its pronounced verticality, takes the form of a monumental cabinet raised on an architectural base of pointed arches, while the upper section is enclosed by two doors reinforced with large, iron-like hardware. The curved-surfaced top is crowned by the winged figure of Saturn holding a scythe, symbolizing the passage of time.

The decorative program is articulated through reliefs depicting the Deadly Sins, displayed on the doors, sides, top, and base. Arnau transforms the surface of the piece into a moralizing stage, populated by female figures, intertwined bodies, children, angels, and figures of intense dynamism. The anatomies, folds, and hairstyles are modeled with a fluidity that is thoroughly modernist, integrating into the object’s architecture without losing their sculptural autonomy.

Particularly evocative is the relationship between the piece’s functional purpose—a prototype for a safe, designed to safeguard valuables—and the iconography of the Deadly Sins, linked to temptation, desire, possession, and moral fragility. This interpretation lends the work an unusual symbolic dimension: the container intended to protect wealth appears enveloped by a visual reflection on the human impulses that covet or corrupt it.

The work clearly demonstrates Arnau’s ability to bring sculpture into the realm of the decorative arts, one of the great ideals of Catalan Modernism. The boldness of the metalwork, the structure’s neo-Gothic roots, and the organic movement of the reliefs come together in a piece of extraordinary uniqueness, created by one of the leading sculptors of Modernist Barcelona.

Eusebi Arnau Mascort was one of the great sculptors of Catalan Modernism. Trained at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and in Paris, he collaborated with leading architects such as Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, participating in iconic decorative projects of Modernist Barcelona. His work is represented in institutions such as the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and serves as an essential reference for understanding the integration of sculpture into architecture and the decorative arts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.