Ramón Martí Alsina

RAMÓN MARTÍ ALSINA (Barcelona, 1826 - 1894).
"Portrait of a woman in front of the mirror".
Oil on canvas.
It has Repainting and restorations on the pictorial surface.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 123 x 70 cm; 142 x 87 cm (frame).
With a suggestive aesthetic game the author allows us to contemplate a lady who in turn is observed in a small hand mirror, totally alien to the viewer. The spectator hardly appreciates what the mirror image projects in such a way that the author configures an image of suggestive and mestizo character. The theme of the woman and the mirror has been common in the history of art, recalling Velázquez's mythical Venus in the Mirror. Perhaps because this element allows the artist to demonstrate his virtuosity, or because it is a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of the concept of beauty.
Considered today as the most important figure of Spanish realism, Martí Alsina is framed within the European avant-garde of the time. He revolutionized the Spanish artistic panorama of the 19th century, was a pioneer of the study of life and the creator of the modern Catalan school, as well as the master of a whole generation, with disciples of the importance of Vayreda, Urgell or Torrescassana. He began his studies in Philosophy and Literature, alternating them with evening classes at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona until 1848. From 1850 his artistic career was consolidated, and in 1852 he began his teaching career. In 1853 he traveled to Paris, where he visited the Louvre and became familiar with the work of Horace Vernet, Eugène Delacroix and French romanticism. Later he would become acquainted with the work of Gustave Courbet, the greatest exponent of realism. In 1859 he was named corresponding academician of the Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi in Barcelona. His first important exhibition was the General Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona in 1851. From that moment on he exhibited regularly in Barcelona, Madrid and Paris, and was invited to the Universal Exposition of the French capital in 1889. Among his prizes, the medals obtained in the National Exhibitions of Madrid stand out, third in 1858 with the work "Last day of Numancia" and second in 1860 with his landscape. In his last years he lived in seclusion, focusing his efforts on the search for new forms of expression, with a brushstroke close to impressionism. Works by Martí Alsina are preserved in the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the MACBA, the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat and the Museum of l'Empordà, in Figueras.