ATTRIBUTED TO JOAN GRAU (1608-1685), SPANISH, CATALONIA, CIRCA 1659-1671 | RELIEF WITH A MOURNING WOMAN

with Caylus Gallery, Madrid;

with Matthiesen Gallery, London, and Coll e Cortes Gallery, Madrid, 2009

The Mystery of Faith: An Eye on Spanish Sculpture 1550-1750, exh. cat. Matthiesen Gallery and Coll e Cortes Gallery, London, 2009, pp. 246-249

London, Matthiesen Gallery and Coll e Cortes Gallery, The Mystery of Faith: An Eye on Spanish Sculpture 1550-1750, 2009

This moving alabaster relief has been confidently attributed to the influential Catalan sculptor Joan Grau by Dr Joan Bosch i Ballbona. Grau was a native of Tarragona who went on to produce major religious sculpture for Catalan churches including his masterpiece: the altarpiece in the Monastery of Sant Benet de Bages (1642). The present alabaster compares closely with works produced by Grau for the monastic church of Santa María de Poblet, which had been commissioned by Lluís Ramon Folch duke of Cardona and his brother Pedro Antonio de Aragón. Dr Bosch Ballbona compares the present work in particular with works from the 'sepulchral chamber's' of the church, in particular the Head of a Man Crowned with Laurels and the Head of a Woman Wearing a Pearl Necklace. Grau's works at Santa María de Poblet were dismantled during the secularisation of the 19th century. Bosch Ballbona suggests that it is possible that the present work could have come from one of the destroyed monuments, but concludes that it is more likely to herald from an unknown project of which visual records are no longer extant. The quality of the carving of the present relief is very fine and exemplifies Grau's expressive style with flowing lines and movement.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Bosch Ballbona, Els tallers d'escultura al Bages del segle XVII, Caixa d'Estalvis de Manresa, Manresa, 1990, pp. 57-78, 178-229

An expertise by Dr Joan Bosch i Ballbona, Professor at the Universitat de Girona and Technical Director of the Catalan Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, is available upon request.