JOSEP BERNAT FLAUGIER (Lou Martegue, France, 1757 - Barcelona, 1812).
"B. Salvador de Horta".
Oil on canvas.
Signed and titled.
Measurements: 91 x 67,5 cm.
French painter established in Catalonia from very young because of his father's business, Josep Bernat or Joseph-Bernard Flaugier began his artistic training in the workshop of an uncle of his, in Marseilles. He spent some time in Tarragona, working there on decorative paintings for palaces and villas such as Castellarnau. He finally settled in Barcelona in 1794, and three years later he set out on a trip to France, where he met Jacques-Louis David and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, key figures in the development of his pictorial style. He returned to Catalonia in 1799 and settled permanently in Barcelona. In Barcelona he soon acquired a solid prestige as an introducer of the Empire style, showing in his work the influence of his French masters. During these years he also received important private commissions, such as the decoration of the Erasmo and Vedruna houses in Barcelona (Palacio Real de Pedralbes) and the Palacio de la Virreina, as well as religious commissions. He painted the dome of the old church of San Carlos Borromeo, a "Coronation of the Virgin" which is still considered his masterpiece. At the beginning of the 19th century he was appointed director of the Llotja School in Barcelona, a post he held from 1809 until his death three years later. During this period of maturity he painted important portraits such as those of the Emperor Napoleon and his brother Joseph Bonaparte, commissioned by the Royal Court of Barcelona. On the other hand, during the French occupation he painted numerous works on genre and popular themes. Both for his work and for his important teaching work, which largely determined the style of the new generations of Catalan artists, Flaugier is today considered the father of Neoclassicism in Catalonia. He was also the founder of the first public museum of painting in Barcelona, whose collection was formed from the paintings seized from the convents closed by the Barcelona authorities. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Sant Jordi Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona and other collections, both public and private.