Román Ribera

ROMÁN RIBERA CIRERA (Barcelona, 1848 - 1935).
"Scene of casacón", ca. 1890.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower margin.
Measurements: 94 x 108 cm; 120 x 1333 cm (frame).

Flemish interior scene, set in a Dutch or Belgian tavern of the eighteenth century. In this type of paintings of casacón, Román Ribera exhibited a notable skill to plamar with verismo and literary flavor the clothes and the human types. The wise use of glazes in the crystal glasses and in the smoothness of the fabrics is combined with the naturalistic characterization of the faces and attitudes. A young maid wearing a bonnet and two men in traditional costumes, one of them a drummer, occupy this Spartan interior, worked with warm and welcoming lights.

Catalan painter, Román Ribera studied drawing at the School of La Lonja in Barcelona, and painting at the academy of Pere Borrell. He furthered his studies in Rome, between 1873 and 1976, and traveled and exhibited in London. In the Italian capital he attended the Chigi Academy and dedicated himself to painting, but avoiding the contagion of the academicist mannerism of the Roman school. In 1877 he went to Paris, under the guidance of the art dealer Adolphe Goupil, who had acquired the rights to reproduce all his work. There he continued his training, this time directly studying scenes of Parisian street life. A year later, he took part in the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he obtained a decisive success thanks to the three works he presented. In 1881 he took part in the National Exhibition in Madrid precisely with the aforementioned work of baroque setting, and in 1883 he was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Católica. After twelve years in Paris he returned to Barcelona, where he had already exhibited at the Centro de Acuarelistas (1885) and at the recently inaugurated Sala Parés. He then showed his work at the Artistic and Literary Association and at the Parés and Rovira halls, as well as at the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and the Fine Arts Exhibition of 1894, obtaining great critical and public success, soon gaining the favor of the wealthy Catalan bourgeoisie. In 1893 he presented two paintings to the Exhibition organized by the Ateneo de Barcelona: "Inocencia" and "Incógnitca". Individually Cirera showed his work regularly in the Rovira room and, as a group, he was a member of the Artistic and Literary Society of Catalonia. He was part of several official juries, and also of the Board of Museums of Barcelona, in 1901. In 1915 he was named Member of Merit of the Artistic Circle of Barcelona. On his return to Spain, Ribera continued to depict the life of the upper classes, the luxury of their homes, the richness of their party dresses, etc., becoming a faithful portraitist of the Catalan high bourgeoisie of the Restoration, as he had already been of the French bourgeoisie of the Third Republic. He worked mainly in Barcelona, but also traveled to Madrid and held exhibitions of his work there. His work is currently conserved in the MACBA in Barcelona, the Museu d'Art de Girona, the Museu de Montserrat, the Biblioteca Víctor Balaguer and in various important private collections.