Esteban Carlos Munràs (1798–1850) was a Spanish-born

Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

artist, best known for his vibrantly colored

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es that adorn the church at

Mission San Miguel Arcángel Mission San Miguel Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Miguel, California. It was established on July 25, 1797, by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area, whom ...

in San Miguel, California.

Early life

Esteban Carlos Munràs was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

in 1798, to Salvador Munràs and Engràcia Estany.Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad - Marriage Records
/ref> Having studied art in his native Spain, Munràs immigrated to the

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

as a young man, ultimately making his home in its capital,

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

. Munrás was a dealer in cattle hides and

tallow Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...

, the products of his Rancho San Vicente. He built Casa Munrás, the first home to be constructed outside the walls of the El Presidio Reál de San Carlos de Monterey, where he established a thriving trading house attached to the family home. Munrás imported fine household furnishings and necessities to the earliest settlers in Monterey, California's first capital. His wife, Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás, was grantee of Rancho Laguna Seca and Rancho San Francisquito.

Career

At the request of mission priest Father Juan Cabot, also a native of Barcelona, Munrás traveled to

, north of Paso Robles, in the early 1820s. Various religious-themed scenes (known as the "Munrás murals") were painted by the local

Salinan The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition ...

Indians under Munrás' direction. His designs reflected the Neo-Classical tastes of the period, and the ''reredos'' (main altarpiece) reflects knowledge of an artist who had seen the fashionably decorated churches in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

of that era. The interior has remained untouched and has been preserved in its original state. Munrás died in 1850 in Monterey. His dying wish was for his wife Catalina Munrás to subdivide their Rancho San Vicente into a town.Soul of CA - Soledad
/ref> She went on to found

Soledad, California Soledad is a city in Monterey County, California, United States. It is in the Salinas Valley, southeast of Salinas, California, Salinas, the county seat. Soledad's population was 24,925 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from ...

Personal life

Esteban Munrás was married to Catalina Manzanelli y Ponce de León. They had children including Concepción Munrás McKee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munrás, Esteban 1798 births 1850 deaths Spanish emigrants to Mexico Painters from Barcelona People from Monterey, California 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters Painters from California People of Alta California