Miquel Serra i Arbós

MIQUEL SERRA I ARBÓS (Tarragona, 1658 - Marseille, 1733).
"Virgin and Child.
Oil on panel.
It has a damaged frame.
Measurements: 33 x 27 cm; 44 x 39 cm (frame).
Miquel Serra i Arbós was a Catalan painter disciple of Joaquim Juncosa, who took him to Rome (1670-75). During this stay, little known, he probably worked in a Roman workshop and went to Naples and Genoa before settling in Marseilles in 1676. Endowed with a great speed of execution, he produced large ceiling decorations, cycles of religious and mythological paintings, official portraits, etc. Little more than a hundred works remain of this prolific production, often in a rather poor state of preservation.
The first commissions show a marked Italian influence. In 1686 he made the decorations for Lully's Phaéton for the opera. At the same time he received his citizenship card (1690), was appointed trustee of the confraternity of St. Luke (1692) and the following year was appointed by Louis XIV painter of the galleys. He was admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture in Paris (1704). Back in Marseilles in 1705, he was the artist of choice for the nobility and the bourgeoisie, for whom he produced paintings and portraits, well known for engravings (Joseph de Camelin, the Marquis de Pilles, etc.).
n the 1920s, the collapse of the Law system and the plague marked a new stage in his life. He developed an important humanitarian work and made sketches from life, from which emerged very large works, such as View of the Cours during the plague or View of the Town Hall - where he portrayed himself - (Longchamp Museum), works that are also extraordinary historical documents because of their accuracy. He was, between 1680 and 1730, the artist of Marseilles par excellence.