Ramón Martí i Alsina (10 August 1826,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

- 21 December 1894, Barcelona) was a Spanish painter in the Realistic style.

Biography

He was born to the humble family of a city official and was orphaned at the age of eight.Biography
@ the Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana He was then raised by his godfather, who was opposed to his plans to become an artist. Accordingly, he began to study philosophy (and eventually earned a bachelor's degree in that subject) but also attended night classes at the

Escola de la Llotja The Escola de la Llotja (, "Llotja School"; es, Escuela de la Lonja), officially the Escola d'Arts i Oficis de Barcelona (Barcelona Arts and Crafts School), is an art and design school located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The school took its ...

. His first attempts at being a professional artist took place in his mother's home town of

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sa ...

, where he gained a modest reputation with the local bourgeoisie as a portrait painter. At this time, his primary inspiration still came from nature; spending his free time painting in the mountains and along the coast of

Maresme Maresme () is a ''comarca'' (county) located along the Catalan Mediterranean coast in Spain, between the ''comarques'' of Barcelonès (at the Southwest) and Selva (at the Northeast), and also bordering with Vallès Oriental (at the west). Its c ...

. In 1848, he went to París, where he visited the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

and acquainted himself with the works of

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 178917 January 1863), more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French Painting, painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalism, Orientalist subjects. Biography Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another ...

and

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

. Later, he discovered the works of

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

and came under the influence of the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

.Biography
@ MCN Biografías. Four years later, he became a professor of drawing at La Llotja. He was also one of the first to introduce the concept of

plein-air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

painting to his students. His first major exhibition was at the Exposición General de Bellas Artes of Barcelona in 1851. He became a corresponding member of the

Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi The Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi (, in English "Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Saint George") is a Catalan art school located in Barcelona. The president is the architect Jordi Bonet i Armengol. The institution was ...

in 1855.Brief biography
@ the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Difficulties

As a result of his earlier philosophical studies, he was attracted to

Positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

Republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

and

Anti-clericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

and identified with the ideals of the

Revolution of 1868 The Glorious Revolution ( es, la Gloriosa or ) took place in Spain in 1868, resulting in the deposition of Queen Isabella II. The success of the revolution marked the beginning of the with the installment of a provisional government. Backgrou ...

. During the reign of King

Amadeo I Amadeo ( it, Amedeo , sometimes latinized as Amadeus; full name: ''Amedeo Ferdinando Maria di Savoia''; 30 May 184518 January 1890) was an Italian prince who reigned as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873. The first and only King of Spain to come fro ...

, he resigned from La Llotja (although some sources say he was dismissed) because he wouldn't swear allegiance to the

Spanish Constitution of 1869 The Spanish Constitution of 1869 ( es, Constitucion Española), enacted on 1 June 1869, was the sixth constitution of the constitutions of Spain to emerge from the turbulent period in Spanish history of 1814-1873. The constitution was adopted by ...

. After the declaration of the

First Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic ( es, República Española), historiographically referred to as the First Spanish Republic, was the political regime that existed in Spain from 11 February 1873 to 29 December 1874. The Republic's founding ensued after th ...

, he was among those rehabilitated by general order of President

Francisco Pi y Margall Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

. During the Seventies, his work entered what was perhaps his most creative phase while his personal life was touched by tragedy. In 1872, his son and daughter both died within a few days of each other and he lost his wife in 1878. At the same time, he went heavily into debt. This forced him to increase his artistic output, almost to the point of creating on an assembly line. He briefly had seven separate workshops open to accommodate his works in progress. Most of them were largely produced by his employees, and only the finishing touches were provided by the artist himself. Over 4,000 paintings from this period bear his signature. Eventually, in 1889, he was able to remarry, but economic problems hounded him for the rest of his life. Despite all that, a large part of his life was spent obsessed with completing his cycle of paintings on the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

and the two sieges of

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

, which he had begun in 1863 with "

The Great Day of Girona ''The Great Day of Girona'', originally ''El gran dia de Girona'' (), is a large oil painting (4.96 × 10.82 m) by Ramon Martí Alsina depicting an important victory of Girona's defenders over the French during the Third Siege of Girona in 1809. Co ...

"; measuring an impressive 16 x 35 feet. The cycle was never completed.

Selected paintings

From the Girona Cycle

File:El setge de Girona de 1809.jpg, The

Third Siege of Girona The third siege of Girona occurred in northern Catalonia, Spain from 6 May to 12 December 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars. A significant event of the Peninsular War, France's Grande Armée lay siege to the town of Girona, Spain, Girona for ...

File:Ramon Martí i Alsina - The Great Day of Girona - Google Art Project.jpg,

Other works

File:Ramon Martí Alsina- Mar Tempestuós- 240.JPG, Stormy Sea File:Ramon Martí Alsina- Paisatge urbà- 1666.JPG, Urban Cityscape File:Ramon Martí Alsina- Paisatge- 1665.JPG, Country landscape File:Ramon Martí Alsina- Paisatge rural amb figures- 1650.JPG, Rural Landscape with Figures

References

External links

"Ramon Martí Alsina, entre la inercia romántica y la pulsión realista"
(Ramon Martí Alsina, Between Romantic Inertia and a Drive towards Realism) by Francesc M. Quílez i Corella,

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (, English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Ma ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marti Alsina, Ramon 1826 births 1894 deaths 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Painters from Catalonia Orientalist painters