Lorenzo Pericás

LORENZO PERICÁS FERRER (Alcoy, 1868 - Alicante, 1912).
"Monk.
Oil on canvas.
It presents breaks and restorations in the pictorial surface and damages in the frame.
Measurements: 100 x 70 cm; 110 x 81 cm (frame).
Lorenzo Pericás Ferrer was a Spanish painter of the 19th and 20th century. He started in painting through the famous Academy of Fine Arts of Lorenzo Casanova, where he coincided with Vicente Bañuls or Heliodoro Guillén Pedemonti among many others. In 1894 he won a silver medal at the Magna Exposición Provincial organized by the Sociedad de Amigos del País at the Teatro Principal.
He became one of the most famous local artists. Some of his most outstanding works were the "Ensayando una misa" (Rehearsing a Mass) located at the entrance and main altar of the Church of Santa María, the frescoes of the Casino, and some other paintings for the Caja de Ahorros de Alicante, the Orfeón (choral society) or the City Hall of Alcoy.
After the death of his teacher Lorenzo Casanova, Pericás took charge of the Academy of Fine Arts. However, during the last years of his life he suffered a hard progressive illness that limited his mobility, especially in his hands.
He died at the age of 44. Some of his most outstanding paintings were "De cháchara", "Puerto de Alicante", "Retrato de una dama", "El leñador", "Corrillo tras la boda", "Carreteros en la venta de Mutxamel" or "Valencianas en el jardín".
Of his painting we can say that following the canons of his master and friend, Lorenzo Casanova, he handled well the chiaroscuro and the use of intense colors, he approached the portrait, mastered the reproduction of flowers and knew how to approach the costumbrista painting, always relegating the landscape (the few times he painted it) to a second plane, after the sequences of the life of the simple people that he captured masterfully.