Mariano Barbasán

MARIANO BARBASÁN LAGUERUELA (Zaragoza, 1864 - 1924).
"Swordsman.
Oil on panel.
Signed, dated, dedicated and located at the bottom.
Measurements: 44 x 26 cm; 58 x 40 cm (frame).

Mariano Barbasán began his training at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos de Valencia, where he entered in 1880. During his student period, he maintained a close relationship with his fellow students Joaquín Sorolla and Salvador Abril. In 1887 he moved to Madrid to see the collections of the Prado Museum, and that same year he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. During this period he travels assiduously to Toledo, studying its landscapes and architectures. In 1889 he obtained a pension from the Diputación de Zaragoza to complete his studies in Rome. Finally he decided to stay in Italy permanently. He opened a studio in Rome, but for long periods he worked in Subiaco, in the Roman countryside. At the age of fifty-seven he returned to Spain to take up a position at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Luis in Zaragoza. Thanks to his contacts with English and German dealers, his work spread rapidly throughout Europe. He exhibited repeatedly in Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Montevideo. In his native city an anthological exhibition was held in 1923, at the Centro Mercantil, and another posthumous one took place at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Madrid, in 1925. Although he initially painted some historical works, Barbasán mainly cultivated landscape painting and scenes of rural life. His style, colorful and of great luminosity, is above all realistic, with a certain influence of impressionism (mainly Italian pre-impressionism) and the work of Fortuny. Works by Mariano Barbasán can be found in the Prado Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the Provincial Museum of Zaragoza, the Museum of Modern Art in Rome, and the Fine Arts Museums of St. Petersburg, Munich, Warsaw, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro, among others.