Alexandre de Riquer

ALEXANDRE DE RIQUER INGLADA (Calaf, Barcelona, 1856 – Palma de Mallorca, 1920).
“Mallorcan Landscape.”
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 18.5 x 19 cm; 50 x 52 cm (frame).

A draftsman, painter, and poet, de Riquer began his studies in Manresa and the Languedoc region of France. Upon returning to Barcelona, he completed his training with Tomás Padró and Antoni Caba at La Lonja. He then traveled to Paris and London; his exposure in England to Japonism, Pre-Raphaelism, and the Arts & Crafts movement was particularly significant. Influenced by figures such as William Morris, he embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal: artist, craftsman, and poet united in a single man. He founded a furniture workshop, created designs for the decorative arts, and contributed as an illustrator and poet to the most prominent publications of Catalan Modernism. He also introduced the art of the ex-libris to Catalonia, a discipline in which he achieved worldwide fame. He participated in numerous exhibitions and shows, winning first-place medals at the Barcelona World’s Fair (1888), the Madrid National Exhibition (1906), and the Chicago World’s Fair (1893). Riquer’s works are represented in the Prado Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Ateneo de Barcelona, the Cau Ferrat, and the Diocesan Museum of Barcelona, among many others.