Venanci Vallmitjana

VENANCI VALLMITJANA BARBANY (Barcelona, 1829-1919).
"Beauty dominating the Force".
Figure in patinated plaster.
Signed on the front.
Presents some chipping and some lack of polychrome.
Measurements: 40,5 x 60,5 x 24,5 cm.

The Beauty dominating the Force is a group of which the artist made a first version in 1875 in plaster, preserved in the MNAC from the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888 (no inv. 010037-000) and of which, in addition to the existing one in the Museo del Prado, there are several copies in various materials, probably of earlier date, as the one preserved in the Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer, from 1886, signed and donated in 1887 by the author, and others in market probably made in mold. At the III Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries" in Barcelona, in 1896, a glazed earthenware version was presented, in the section of Artistic Industries, among the group of ceramics, porcelain and earthenware ("no 1006 - Beauty dominating Force, glazed earthenware", p. 175). Source: Prado Museum.

Sculptor trained at the Llotja School in Barcelona, where he was taught by Damià Campeny. In 1856 he was appointed professor at the Llotja, where he had disciples of great stature, such as Josep Llimona, Pablo Gargallo and Eusebi Arnau. His life and work is closely linked to that of his brother Agapit Vallmitjana, also a sculptor, with whom he had a workshop in common, until 1983, when he opened a new workshop with his son, also a sculptor, Agapit Vallmitjana i Abarca. Among the awards received we can mention: Second medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid, 1861; Second prize "Le Figaro" in Paris (1873) and First medal at the National Exhibition of 1890. Among his public sculptures, the Allegory of Commerce and Industry, located at the entrance to the Parque de la Ciudadela in Barcelona, and the monument to Diana, located on the Gran Vía in the same city, stand out. Although he enjoyed great prestige, as evidenced by the tribute of 1912, he often clashed with the official and academicist art of his time. He is considered a pre-modernist, as he was a teacher of modernist masters such as Llimona and Gargallo. He is represented in renowned collections, such as those of the following museums: the Fine Arts Museum of Bilbao, the Prado Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia and the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, and in museums in Paris, London, New York, etc.