ROMAN RIBERA CIRERA (Barcelona, 1848 - 1935).
"Musician with cello".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Size: 60 x 35 cm; 79 x 51 cm (frame).
Besides portraying the elegant and lavish life of the Parisian bourgeoisie at the end of the century, Román Ribera made paintings of musicians that remind, for their setting and excellent workmanship, of the Dutch and Spanish painting of the 17th century. This is the case here, where the artist depicts a musician with a cello in his hand. One of the most outstanding aspects of the painting is its successful treatment of colour and light. He uses a chromatic range of warm ochre, earthy and reddish tones, which he contrasts and contrasts with the brilliant white of the collar of his suit and the gold buttons on his coat. The artist, on the other hand, reveals himself to be a great draughtsman and demonstrates his interest in psychological introspection, offering us the image of a musician meditating, his gaze lost, despite the moment of calm he enjoys. Every detail of the costume has been depicted in all its rightful qualities, as was usual in Roman Ribera's precious plastic art.
A Catalan painter, Roman Ribera studied drawing at the La Lonja School in Barcelona and painting at Pere Borrell's academy. He furthered his studies in Rome between 1873 and 1976, and travelled and exhibited in London. In the Italian capital he attended the Accademia Chigi and devoted himself to painting, but avoiding the contagion of the academicist mannerism of the Roman school. In 1877 he went to Paris with the art dealer Adolphe Goupil, who had acquired the rights to reproduce all his work. There he continued his training, this time directly studying scenes of Parisian street life. A year later he took part in the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he achieved a decisive success with his three works of remarkable literary verism. However, he did not quite feel at ease with this type of subject matter and soon began to focus on depicting the elegant life of the period in works such as "Exit from the Ball", which he alternated with genre scenes in the Spanish Baroque tradition such as "A Flemish Drinker". In 1881 he took part in the National Exhibition in Madrid with precisely the aforementioned work with a Baroque setting, and in 1883 he was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Católica. After twelve years in Paris he returned to Barcelona, where he had already exhibited at the Centro de Acuarelistas (1885) and at the recently inaugurated Sala Parés. He then exhibited his work at the Artistic and Literary Association and the Parés and Rovira halls, as well as at the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and the Fine Arts Exhibition of 1894, obtaining great critical and public acclaim and soon won the favour of the wealthy Catalan bourgeoisie. In 1893 he submitted two paintings to the exhibition organised by the Barcelona Athenaeum: "Innocence" and "Incógnitca". Cirera regularly exhibited his work individually in the Rovira Room and as a group in the Artistic and Literary Society of Catalonia. He was a member of various official juries, and also of the Barcelona Museum Board in 1901. In 1915 he was appointed Member of Merit of the Artistic Circle of Barcelona. On his return to Spain Ribera continued to depict the life of the upper classes, the luxury of their homes, the richness of their costumes, etc., becoming a faithful portraitist of the Catalan upper middle classes of the Restoration, as he had already been of the French bourgeoisie of the Third Republic. He worked mainly in Barcelona, but also travelled to Madrid and held exhibitions of his work there. His work is currently held in the MACBA in Barcelona, the Museu d'Art de Girona, the Museu de Montserrat, the Biblioteca Víctor Balaguer and in various important private collections.