Enrique Serra

ENRIQUE SERRA Y AUQUÉ (Barcelona, 1859 - Rome, 1918).
"Pontine Lagoon", Rome, 1890.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and located in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 53 x 99 cm; 70 x 117 cm (frame).

Enrique Serra, Catalan but Roman by adoption, always felt tied to the places of the Pontine plain, which he captured in his work paying special attention to the ponds of this zone, which has as center the city of Terracina, where the painter resided during a time. Serra captures these places with his personal naturalistic language, under twilight atmospheres of nuanced and somber colors, which create an atmosphere of loneliness, nostalgia and a certain mystery. In fact, this symbolic environmental background of Serra will influence other Catalan artists who traveled to Rome and who had contact with him, such as Nicolás Raurich.

Enrique Serra began his training at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Ramón Martí Alsina and Domingo Talarn. In 1879 he traveled to Rome to further his studies, thanks to a scholarship granted by the Masriera brothers, the Torruella silversmiths and the Marquis of Castellvell. Once definitively installed in the Italian capital, his works were very well received, and he received commissions from such prominent figures as Pope Leo XIII, who entrusted him with the creation of his portrait, as well as a Virgin to reproduce it in mosaic and give it to the monastery of Ripoll, then under restoration (1871). He was a member of the International Circle and a member of the Chigi Academy, and became friends with Mariano Fortuny, with whom he made some paintings of casacons. In 1879 he exhibited at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and participated in the Berlin Exhibition in 1886, in the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888, in various Fine Arts exhibitions in Barcelona between 1891 and 1907 and in the National Exhibition of Madrid in 1895. That same year he set up his studio in Paris, where many young Spanish artists attended. As an illustrator he collaborated with "La Ilustración Española y Americana". His work was recognized with numerous awards, among them the Third Medal in the National of Madrid and the Gold Medal in the Universal of Barcelona. Serra focused mainly on visions of the Pontine lagoons, melancholic and virtuosic works. He is represented in the Fine Arts Museums of the Vatican, the Prado, Glasgow, Magdeburg, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona and Alava, among others.