FRANCISCO MASRIERA Y MANOVENS (Barcelona, 1842-1902)."Classical Scene".Oil on canvas.Signed in the lower right area.Size: 66 x 96 cm; 95 x 124 cm (frame).As it can be appreciated in this work, Masriera put special interest in the female figure, deepening in the eroticism and in the emotional strength of his portraits, which he used to represent in sumptuously ornamented environments and dressed with rich dresses, headdresses and jewels. The present painting depicts a classical interior that is rigorously documented in terms of architecture, clothing and furnishings. The scene, clearly inspired by Pompeii, presents a marine view whose landscape can be directly related to the beach of Meta in Sorrento.A Spanish painter, writer and goldsmith, he is considered one of the best Catalan portraitists, following in the footsteps of Fortuny. He began his training in the jewellery workshop of his father José María Masriera and in that of José Serra y Porson. Always concerned with improving and exploring new horizons, he refined his technique after travelling to Geneva, where he learned the enamelling process, which would be one of the main hallmarks of his goldsmith designs. As for his work as a painter, it is recorded that he travelled to Paris for the first time in 1865, where he visited Cabanel's studio. He visited the French capital, the epicentre of the artistic modernity of the time, on several occasions, where he acquired first-hand the rapid brushstrokes, luminosity and vivid chromaticism of the early Impressionists, traits that can be seen in this magnificent painting. As can also be seen in the work presented here, Masriera had the ability tobine the freshness of the new plastic trends emerging in Paris at the time with the long neoclassical tradition marked by the Academy: a painstaking dedication to drawing, attention toposition and the rigorous study of the old masters. In fact, there is evidence that at the Louvre he devoted himself to copying the main works in order to acquire the mastery of the classics, and in Paris he took part in the Universal Exhibitions of 1867, 1878 and 1889. There is also evidence of his trips to Rome, where he began to paint Orientalist canvases. As a writer and columnist he contributed to the magazine El Recuerdo.In Spain he was awarded the second medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1878 for his work entitled La esclava ("The Slave"), and also exhibited his works at the Galería Bosch in Madrid in 1882 and at the Sala Parés in Barcelona in 1889. As can be seen in this exquisite painting, Masriera's technique is characterised by the perfection of the drawing, the carefulposition and a colouring full of strength and luminosity, which is particularly evident in the iridescence of the canvases. He stood out for his fantasy-filled preciousness, as well as for the freshness of his colours.Dimensions: 66 x 96 cm; 95 x 124 cm (frame).