Venancio Vallmitjana

Venancio Vallmitjana Barbany
Photograph published in Mundo Gráfico, 15 October 1913
Born(1830-04-01)April 1, 1830
Barcelona, Spain
DiedSeptember 3, 1919(1919-09-03) (aged 89)
Barcelona
CitizenshipSpanish
EducationEscola de la Llotja
OccupationSculptor
Organization(s)Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona
Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi
ChildrenAgapito Vallmitjana Abarca

Venancio Vallmitjana Barbany[1][a] (Barcelona, 1 April 1830 – Barcelona, 3 September 1919) was a Spanish sculptor.

Biography

Vallmitjana studied at the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona, where he received instruction from the sculptor Damià Campeny. In 1856 he was appointed professor at that school.[2] His important role as a teacher has been highlighted, as many of his pupils went on to achieve great success as sculptors, among them Josep Llimona, Pablo Gargallo, and Eusebi Arnau. He has been regarded as an artist ahead of his time, and indeed on more than one occasion he clashed with the canons of "official" art.[3]

Venancio Vallmitjana's life and works were closely linked to those of his brother Agapito Vallmitjana, also a sculptor, and the two in fact signed all their works "V. y A."[3] This has made it very difficult to distinguish the work of each one subsequently.[4] He shared a studio with his brother until 1883, when he opened a new studio with his son, also a sculptor, Agapito Vallmitjana Abarca. Connected to the Court — Queen Isabella II visited the brothers' studio in Barcelona in 1860 and a year later they presented their work at the Royal Palace of Madrid —[5] and to a purist aesthetic with Renaissance influences, cultivated to a greater degree by his brother Agapito, Venancio opened himself up to the French influence, more monumentalist in nature, and in 1873 he travelled to Paris.[6] He also worked with his son, Agapit Vallmitjana i Abarca.[2]

Vallmitjana died in Barcelona in 1919.[7]

Distinctions

Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosario Monumental of Montserrat. The Way of the Cross.
  • 1861 – Second medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid.
  • 1873 – Second prize, Le Figaro, in Paris.
  • 1890 – First medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid.

Notable works

Notes

  1. ↑ He is currently mentioned in some works by the form of his name in standard Catalan, as "Venanci Vallmitjana i Barbany". Vallmitjana is the paternal surname, Barbany his mother's surname.

References

  1. 1 2 "Museo Nacional del Prado: Enciclopedia online". Museo Nacional del Prado. 15 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
  2. 1 2 "The Vallmitjana Brothers". Museu Etnològic i de Cultures del Món. 30 June 2026. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 Avelí Artis 1971, p. 310.
  4. ↑ García Melero 1998, p. 349.
  5. ↑ Azcué (2019), p. 75.
  6. ↑ Azcué (2019), p. 79.
  7. ↑ "Venanci Vallmitjana i Barbany". Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana (in Catalan). Barcelona: Grup Enciclopèdia. Archived from the original on 24 June 2026. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "Santa Isabel de Hungría: Colección Venancio Vallmitjana Barbany". Museo Nacional del Prado (in Spanish). 12 July 2026. Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2026.

Bibliography

  • Azcue Brea, Leticia, "La melancolía de Roma: la escultura religiosa académica en la Corte alfonsina. Ecos puristas en la obra de Martín Riesco, los hermanos Vallmitjana o Samsó", in Alejandro Cañestro (coord.), Svmma Stvdiorum Scvlptoricae, In memoriam Dr. Lorenzo Hernández Guardiola, Alicante, Instituto alicantino de Cultura y Diputación de Alicante, 2019, pp. 59–104.
  • Avelí Artis, Andreu (1971). Retratos de Ramón Casas [Portraits of Ramón Casas] (in Spanish). Polígrafa.
  • García Melero, José Enrique (1998). Arte español de la Ilustración y del siglo XIX. En torno a la imagen del pasado [Spanish Art of the Enlightenment and the 19th Century. Around the Image of the Past] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones Encuentro.
Additional bibliography
  • Josefina Alix Trueba (1985). Escultura Española 1900/1936 [Spanish Sculpture 1900/1936] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones El Viso. ISBN 84-7483-412-0.
  • La Gran Enciclopèdia en català [The Great Catalan Encyclopedia] (in Catalan). Vol. 20. Barcelona: Edicions 62. 2004. ISBN 84-297-5448-2.
  • Leticia Azcue Brea (2009), "Escultores catalanes del siglo XIX en el Museo del Prado", Boletín del MNAC no. 10, Barcelona, 2009, pp. 111–139.[1]
  • Leticia Azcue Brea (2019), "La melancolía de Roma: la escultura religiosa académica en la Corte alfonsina. Ecos puristas en la obra de Martín Riesco, los hermanos Vallmitjana o Samsó", in Alejandro Cañestro (Coord.), Svmma Stvdiorum Scvlptoricae, In memoriam Dr. Lorenzo Hernández Guardiola, II Congreso Internacional de Escultura Religiosa, Crevillent, 25–28 October 2018, Instituto alicantino de Cultura y Diputación de Alicante, 2019, pp. 59–104.[2]
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