RAMÓN AMADEU GRAU
(Barcelona, 1745-1821)
“The Immaculate Conception”
Clothed bust, polychrome terracotta with braid-trimmed silk clothing, lace, a pearl
necklace and moon in carved and gilded wood with tinted varnish. And an important set
comprising an 18th-century bow shaped brooch and earrings in gold and rose cut
diamonds.
In an original Charles IV urn in carved, gilded and marbled wood, late 18th century.
Glass eyes.
Bust, 62 cm high. Urn, 78,5 x 60 x 23.5cm, and 98cm high (total with base)
Ramón Amadeu Grau undertook his apprenticeship (it is not known whether he had an
academic training) in the studios of various sculptors in Barcelona, including José
Trulls, Bartolomé Soler, Agustín Mas, Antonio Compte and Agustín Sala. For more
than two years he worked with Luís Bonifás Massó who had a studio in Valls
(Tarragona) that was one of the most active and important of its day in Catalonia.
In 1770 Grau was admitted to the guild of Sculptors, Architects and Carvers in
Barcelona, opening his own studio on calle Escudellers. Having failed to gain the
position of supernumerary in 1772, he achieved this status in 1778 with the presentation
of his low relief Christ expelling the Devil from a dumb Man. When Barcelona was
occupied by Napoleonic troops in 1808, Grau’s monarchist leanings obliged him to
abandon the city, leaving his family behind, and go into exile in Olot (Girona) where he
would be extremely active as a sculptor. After the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1814
he returned to Barcelona, reopening his studio. Grau died in October 1821 aged 76 and
was buried in the cemetery of the church of Nuestra Señora del Pino.
Grau’s sculptural style falls within the tradition of a pleasing realism and accessible
approach that conveys the simple, human facet of his figures, while his forms reflect
both the expressivity of the Baroque and the austerity of Neo-classicism. Some of his
sculptures are so called figures “for dressing” and in general his documented oeuvre
mainly comprises religious works, although it has only survived in a reduced,
fragmented state due to the destruction of ecclesiastical buildings in Spain. Notable
works by the artist include:
The Adoration of the Shepherds Altarpiece (church of San Felipe Neri, Barcelona),
Saint Joachim, Saint Anne and the Infant Virgin (church of Santos Justo y Pastor,
Barcelona), Saint José Oriol, The Virgin of the Unprotected (both, church of Nuestra
Señora del Pino, Barcelona), The Virgin of the Unprotected (Museo Federico Marès,
Barcelona), Saint Joachim and Saint Anne (church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced,
Barcelona), Saint Joachim, Saint Anne and the Infant Virgin (high altar, church of Santa
Ana, Barcelona), Saint Bruno (church of San Jaime, Barcelona), The Mystery of the
Holy Thorn (Colegio Mayor de la Seda, Barcelona), The Infant Christ (Barcelona
cathedral), sculptures of Christ the Saviour and The Four Apostles (principal façade,
monastery church of Nuestra Señora de Montserrat), Ecce Homo (Santuario de Nuestra
Señora del Tura, Olot), Full-length portrait of the scribe of the notary of Santa Pau
(private collection, Olot). In addition, Grau was a noted and prolific sculptor of crib
figures.
The Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña has another bust of the Immaculate
Conception in terracotta, which has the same arrangement of the hands and expression
of the face, with the head slightly tilted. The symbol of the twelve-starred crown in
reference to The Apocalypse is equally present in the two images.