The clean stone with which Gothic buildings have reached our days has erased from memory the color that adorned its majestic cathedrals, works carried out by the first artisans whose names could be recorded, such as that of Lluís Borrassà, protagonist of the exhibition which since last Thursday has housed the Gothic room of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Lluís Borrassa. Els colors retrobats de la catedral de Barcelona, is the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the figure of what is considered one of the main painters of the Catalan international Gothic. From his workshop located in front of the cathedral of Santa María del Mar, this artisan from Girona made four altarpieces for the other cathedral in Barcelona, that of Santa Eulàlia, which will be unveiled from this Thursday until July 2.
The exhibition has its origin in the acquisition by the Generalitat of two panels in private hands, Vestició de Sant Pere Mártir and Decapitació dels familiars de Sant Hipòlit. Based on the two acquisitions, the museum decided to set up an exhibition that would value who is considered one of the best Catalan Gothic painters, and thus "make known the name of a well-known Gothic artist at an academic level, but unknown to the general public”, as explained by César Favà, curator of the exhibition and curator of Gothic art at the MNAC.
Throughout his career, Borrassà made four altarpieces for the cathedral of Barcelona, which was under construction at the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. It is these pieces that make up the exhibition, although one of them, that of Sant Antoni Abbot, remains missing and is only present through documents. The other three altarpieces are those of Saint Andrew (1400-1410), Saint Martha, Saint Dominic and Saint Peter Martir (1414-1421) and that of Saint Lawrence, Saint Hippolytus and Saint Thomas Aquinas (1419-1420).
The exhibition includes all the known pieces of pictorial ensembles that, when they went out of fashion, were replaced from their location in the Barcelona cathedral by Baroque pieces. This decision meant the dismemberment and disintegration of the altarpieces, which mostly ended up in private collections with exceptions such as that of Sant Andreu. Its pieces appeared thanks to the disassembly in the 20th century of the baroque complex that occupied the saint's chapel. When removing the tables they discovered that they had been painted on the back of the Gothic original that can now be seen.
Fortunately, the pieces that have survived to this day are in a very good state of preservation, as reflected in the vibrant reds and golds of pieces such as the Mort de sant Pere Màrtir, or the Sant Hipòlit rests the bed of Bouer Pere, one of the three transfers from the Prado Museum, which also participates with the monumental representation of Sant Domènec, Santa Marta and Sant Pere Màrtir, acquired by the Madrid museum in 2022. This collaboration between the two institutions will also bear fruit this year in the celebration of the exhibition The jewish mirror. The medieval image of the Jew and Judaism, which can be seen in Madrid from October to later travel to Barcelona in 2024.
The paintings are accompanied by a rich documentary contribution, which allows us to better understand the operation of the workshop run by Lluís Borrassà in front of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar. Born around 1360, Borrassà is the most notable member of a family of painters from Girona active for more than a century, a tradition started by his father and followed by his brother, his nephews and their children. His artistic training probably took place in his father's workshop, his work being “regent in making stained glass windows” of the Girona cathedral being documented for the first time in 1380.
Shortly after, he moved to Barcelona, where he would run the most influential painting workshop in late-medieval Catalonia for 40 years. During this time, Borrassà took in numerous apprentices, although he also trained one of his slaves, Lluc Borrassà, acquired in 1392 and freed after his master's sample, already becoming a great painter who was able to continue his work in Mallorca, where his previous owner. A legendary story for a painter whose life is barely known scraps of red, black and gold leaf.
