Melcior Domenge

MELCIOR DOMENGE I ANTIGA (Olot, Girona, 1871 - 1939).
"Landscape of Olot".1912.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 55 x 65 cm; 73 x 85 cm (frame).
Painter and pesebrista, Domenge was formed in the School of Fine Arts of Olot, where later he exerted the teaching. A student of Josep Berga at the Olot School of Fine Arts from 1882, he had a close relationship with the Olot landscape painter Joaquim Vayreda, whom he helped to prepare the canvases and colors, and also to daub the canvases. He continued his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona at the end of 1890, where he enrolled several times, when he obtained a scholarship that allowed him to travel to the capital. He painted the Olot landscape in all seasons, and it often served as a backdrop to represent religious prints of Nazarene character, such as scenes of the Good Shepherd or other celestial figures that help to sublimate the ideological-religious vision characteristic of his style. He was frequently commissioned to paint religious compositions, many of which disappeared during the Civil War. He was an assistant professor of Josep Berga in the school of his hometown from 1930. He worked on portraits and religious themes, but he was basically a landscape painter, more synthetic than his teacher and opposed to anything that hindered nature. His morning and twilight backlights are especially outstanding. He is mainly represented in the Museum of Fine Arts in Olot.