Pere Borrell del Caso (13 December 1835, in

Puigcerdà Puigcerdà (; es, Puigcerdá) is the capital of the '' Catalan comarca'' of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts directly onto the French town of Bourg-Ma ...

– 16 May 1910, in

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 ...

) was a Spanish painter, illustrator and engraver, known for his ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' paintings; especially ''Escaping Criticism'' (1874). His father was a

cabinetmaker A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...

who taught that craft to Borrell. It was by this means that he was able to support his studies at the School of Fine Arts. He also painted portraits, which made up the bulk of his work, and created religious murals in the Nazarene style in Barcelona,

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

and

Castellar del Vallès Castellar del Vallès is a Spanish municipality of Catalonia in the comarca of Vallès Occidental. It is located 7 km from Sabadell and 11 km from Terrassa, the comarca's two capitals. Other villages near Castellar del Vallès are Sant ...

. These, however, were all destroyed during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

in the 1930s. He exhibited throughout Spain and at the 1878 Exposition Universelle. He was twice offered a professorship 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 ...

, but preferred to teach at his own private art school. Those who studied there or were influenced by his work include Romà Ribera,

Ricard Canals Ricard Canals i Llambí (13 December 1876, in Barcelona – 7 February 1931, in Barcelona) was a Catalonia, Catalan Impressionism, Impressionist painter, illustrator and engraver; initially associated with the short-lived "" of Isidre Nonell; name ...

Adrià Gual Adrià Gual i Queralt (; Barcelona, 1872–1943) was a Catalonia, Catalan playwright and theatre businessman, founder of the Escola Catalana d'Art Dramàtic and a pioneer of Film, cinema in Barcelona. He founded El Teatre Íntim (The Intimate T ...

and

Josep Maria Sert Josep Maria Sert i Badia (; Barcelona, 21 December 1874 – 27 November 1945, buried in the Vic Cathedral) was a Spanish muralist, the son of an affluent textile industry family, and friend of Salvador Dalí. He was particularly known for his gr ...

.William H. Robinson; Jordi Falgas; Carmen Bellon Lord; Robert Hughes, ''Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali'' (Yale University Press, 2006), 503 His children, Julio and Ramón, both became painters of some note. Puigcerdà's local high school has been named the "Institut Pere Borrell" in his honour. A street there bears his name as well.

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Further reading