Francisco Masriera

FRANCISCO MASRIERA MANOVENS (Barcelona, 1842 - 1902).
"Hunting piece".1886
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the upper right corner.
Measurements: 96 x 51 cm; 111 x 70 cm (frame).

Painter, writer and goldsmith, Francisco Masriera cultivated the genre of portrait and orientalist painting, and is currently considered one of the best portraitists who followed in the footsteps of Fortuny. Son of the prestigious goldsmith José Masriera Vidal, and brother of the painters José and Luis Masriera, Francisco began his artistic training with his father, in the family jewelry workshop, and with the painter José Serra Porson. He then traveled to Geneva to learn the technique of enamel, although he gradually turned to painting, specializing in the execution of portraits. Around 1865 he moved to Paris, where he attended the workshop of Alexandre Cabanel and devoted himself to copying the great masters of the Louvre. Later he traveled to Rome, where he began to paint Orientalist canvases. As a writer and columnist he collaborated in the magazine "El Recuerdo". Francisco Masriera attended the Universal Exhibitions of Paris in 1867, 1878 and 1889, being distinguished in this last edition with a third class medal. In the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of Madrid in 1878 he was awarded a second medal for the work entitled "The Slave", which was finally acquired by King Alfonso XII. He also showed his works at the Bosch Gallery in Madrid in 1882, and at the Sala Parés in Barcelona in 1889. Within his production of portraits stands out the one he made to the Queen Regent Maria Cristina with his son Alfonso XIII in 1888, which currently presides over the Hall of the Queen Regent of the Casa de la Ciudad in Barcelona. Close to the group of Spanish painters settled in the French capital, among them Francisco Miralles, Romà Ribera and Federico de Madrazo, his international projection was strengthened when he signed a contract with Goupil, the most important art dealer of the time, for the commercialization of his work. His paintings are characterized by the perfection of the drawing, the careful composition and a color full of strength and luminosity, which is manifested especially in the sunny tones of the canvases. This painter practiced a preciousness full of fantasy and decorative sense, in which the freshness of the color reminds us of the gallant painting of Watteau and Fragonard. In his studies, compositions and portraits he focused mainly on the female figure, represented in sumptuously ornamented environments and dressed in rich dresses, headdresses and orientalist jewelry. Francisco Masriera is represented in the Prado Museum, the Museum of San Telmo in San Sebastian, the Museum of Fine Arts of Alava, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Abbey of Montserrat and the National Heritage, as well as in various private collections.