Lluís Borrassà. The rediscovered colours of the Barcelona Cathedral

23/02/2023

07/07/2023

Curator:

Cèsar Favà

Location:

Gothic Art Rooms

Related material:

Leaflet (pdf - 1,57 Mb) [1]

Leaflet (pdf - 1,57 Mb)

1The rediscovered colours of the Barcelona Cathedral

This first monographic exhibition dedicated to Lluís Borrassa (active 1380-1424/1425) is being implemented after the addition of two of the artist’s paintings to the collection. Acquired by the Government of Catalonia in 2020 at the museum’s suggestion, the Vestition of Saint Peter Martyr and the Beheading of the Relatives of Saint Hyppolitus have enhanced the scarce works by the painter, one of the main representatives of Catalan Gothic.

Rediscovered in the art market, both pieces are part of two altarpieces from the Barcelona Cathedral, one of the era’s greatest monuments, under construction at the time. In the exhibition, both paintings are presented in the context of the artist’s production for this religious edifice, along with a good part of the known documentation and artistic remains: a wonderful group of panel paintings, separated and dispersed, some held in private collections. As a whole, they are testimonies to a past and only partially-known reality, which is now undergoing a recovery thanks to the studies and findings of recent years.

2THE MASTER AND HIS WORKSHOP

Lluís Borrassà is the most eminent member of a lineage of painters hailing from Girona, active for over a century. Likely trained in his father’s workshop, he was documented for the first time in 1380 as a Girona painter and the manager of the production of stained-glass windows’ for the city’s cathedral. He moved to Barcelona shortly thereafter, where he would end up managing the most fertile and influential of Catalonia’s pictorial workshops of his time. Over the course of 40 plus years, he took on a range of tasks, although excelling in painting altarpieces, with some 50 known commissions. Numerous collaborators and apprentices passed through his workshop, whose presence may explain certain differences in his oeuvre. Among them, Lluc stood out, he was one of his slaves when having one was common in the society of this period. Luc was acquired in 1392 and freed after the master’s death.

3BORRASSÀ AND THE BARCELONA CATHEDRAL

The painter’s link to this temple encompassed a good part of his career. In 1396, he received a payment for having bought blue pigment and polychroming part of the wooden pulpit from the choir, made by sculptor Pere Sanglada and started in 1394. However, today his main imprint can be found in four altarpieces, all disassembled in the modern period and only partially known. The first two were crafted for the chapels of Saint Anthony the Abbot and Saint Andrew for the ambulatory. The other two, dedicated to three saints and with a similar structure, were funded by two members of the Despujol family and were located in the chapels of Saint Martha and Saint Lawrence in the nave.

4THE ALTARPIECE OF SAINT ANTHONY THE ABBOTT

Promoted by Valença, widow of wooldresser Bernat Moner, who in 1400 established an ecclesiastical benefice to the chapel of Saint Anthony, meaning a permanent income given to clerics for worship. In 1403, Borrassà signed the contract for painting the altarpiece, after the wooden frame was made. The final payment of 70 pounds for the total cost, including the painting of the sacristy behind the altarpiece, was made in 1406. There is no known remain of the overall altarpiece with three vertical and horizontal sections, similar to the displayed metal structure. Saint Anthony featured in the centre panel, topped by the Calvary and flanked by scenes from his life. By contract, the predella had to depict half figures around the Christ of Pity, although later sources allude to a cycle on the Virgin.

5THE ALTARPIECE OF SAINT ANDREW.

The construction of a new altarpiece for the chapel of Saint Andrew, in the early 20th century, entailed disassembling the former Baroque whole piece and, in parallel, the discovery of pictorial remains from the old Gothic altarpiece, which had been used as construction materials. That is why its state is so incomplete, with gilt remains and grooves on the back conserved.

Attributed to Borrassà and dated approximately due to reflecting his style, these fragments must have belonged to the altarpiece of Saint Andrew that was likely paid for by Barcelona aristocrat Joan Sabastida. It was comprised of a central panel with the saint on a throne and several episodes from his life on the side panels. The Calvary and the Angel with the instruments from the Passion of Christ (Arma Christi) completed the topic.

6THE ALTARPIECE OF SAINT MARTHA, SAINT DOMINIC AND SAINT PETER MARTYR

In 1408, apothecary Guillem Despujol established a benefice to Saint Dominic and Saint Peter Martyr, the main saints of the Dominican order, in the chapel of Saint Martha at the cathedral. Later, in his will (1414), he set out his wish to have an altarpiece built that was dedicated to the three saints, which were to include his coat of arms and that of his wife Constança.

Documentation from the 16th century describes the structure and thematic layout of the altarpiece, which was protected by a curtain. Unfortunately, only the central panel and the Calvary are known, which originally was over it. From among all the narrative scenes there once were, only four panels dedicated to Saint Peter Martyr have appeared.

7THE ALTARPIECE OF SAINT LAWRENCE, SAINT HIPPOLYTUS AND SAINT THOMAS OF AQUINAS

After building the wooden structure, Borrassà covenanted with the canon Ferrer Despujol for painting the altarpiece on 17 February 1419. The commission included the polychrome of the chapel’s sacristy for a cost of 85 pounds of Barcelona, which he would be paid upon completion by Easter of the following year. On 30 May 1420, Despujol established the benefice to Saint Hippolytus.

Only five panels from this altarpiece have been found. However, there is information on three more dedicated to Saint Lawrence: the flagellation, martyrdom on the gridiron, and – possibly – the baptism of Saint Hippolytus. Sixteenth-century documents also report on the structure of the entire piece and the layout of the topics represented.