Sant Pau will reveal its exceptional Baroque collection in a new room.

BarcelonaPatrons have left a profound mark on the history of Catalonia. The Targary knight Pau Ferran is remembered because upon his death in 1649, he bequeathed 100,000 ducats for the construction of the Casa de la Convalescència (House of Convalescence), the building adjacent to the Hospital de la Santa Creu (Hospital of the Holy Cross) and current headquarters of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies). Now, his portrait takes center stage in one of the rooms of the Modernist complex of the Hospital de Sant Pau, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner at the beginning of the 20th century. It is here that two experts, David Silvestre and Irene Panadés, are examining its state of conservation to prepare for its future restoration.

The portrait of Pau Ferran is the work of the Berguedà-born painter Pasqual Bailon Savall, the first teacher of the great Catalan Baroque painter, Antoni Viladomat. The restoration of this painting is not an isolated event, but rather the starting point for the restoration of a dozen more, part of a collection of nearly twenty paintings from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, which will be displayed in their own dedicated space starting next autumn. The exhibition's narrative will be based on the most renowned artists and the themes of their works. "We've had the idea for some time of showcasing a series of paintings that we had stored in different locations," says Miquel Terreu, archivist of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. "We organized a visit with art history professor Francesc Miralpeix, and the conclusion was that these paintings are treasures and deserve to be exhibited," Terreu explains. "The Hospital de Sant Pau houses a selection of the most famous names in Catalan Baroque painting, and that's very rare. I think it's the only place where this happens, and the sequence is interesting," Miralpeix points out.

In the portrait, the knight Pau Ferran appears full-length, with a haughty demeanor, and behind him is the building he commissioned, presided over by the well-known sculpture of Saint Paul by Luis Bonifaz, which still graces the courtyard of the Casa de la Convalecencia (House of Convalescence). "It's very unusual for the portrait to have survived," says Miralpeix. "The hospital had a number of benefactors, both men and women, and that's very interesting. This fact allows for the possibility that Baroque paintings include portraits of figures from that era, even identifying real physical spaces, such as the courtyard of the Casa de la Convalecencia. And there was certainly an attempt to represent them as they were," Miralpeix explains. "Portraits were made to commemorate their deeds and to serve as an example," he adds, "so that if someone reflected on it, they would continue doing their work."

Ferran's gaze is direct and frontal, but it seems that, at the same time, he's glancing sideways as Silvestre and Panadés examine the painting in different light. The work has just begun: the restorers are locating some areas where the paint has lifted, which will need to be secured by injecting a sticker before the paint falls off, as well as areas that have been repainted. The painting was restored in the 1990s, but they don't know if it was a general intervention or if only specific areas were restored. They are also conducting tests to determine the most suitable materials and trying out different varnishes. Once the paint layer is secured, they will clean the painting and then begin removing the deteriorated varnishes and overpainting. "We treat the water we use to clean the paint so that it has a pH that won't degrade the polychromy," the restorers explain.

The hospital beyond the Middle Ages

The future exhibition hall will be added to the tour of the entire Modernist Complex of the hospital and, taking advantage of the occasion, the discourse of the next room that recreates the Very Illustrious Administration of the hospital (MIA) will be reworked to include the artistic aspect of some paintings dedicated to Saint Paul that have been attributed to Viladomat until now. "The hospital was founded during the Middle Ages, and much has been said about this period, but there was practically no elaborate narrative about the later centuries, so we started with the artistic aspect: what works we have, how they came to the hospital, how they were displayed, and whether they were commissioned or donated. Regarding Bailon Savall, Miralpeix states that he has taken on a more prominent role than expected. He also considers the Viladomat paintings to be among the best of his work. And between the two is another painter about whom little was known until a few years ago, Joan Gallart, who died in 1714. "He is a very interesting painter who surely died during the siege of Barcelona, ​​and if he hadn't died, he would surely have had the most important workshop in Barcelona during those years," says Miralpeix. The hospital has three paintings of hermit saints by Gallart: Saint Onuphrius, Saint Francis of Paola, and Saint Jerome, the latter being quite damaged.

One of the best paintings of the Catalan Baroque period

Gallart trained in the workshop of another famous master represented in the hospital's collection, Joan Grau. There are three generations of painters with the same name. The hospital's permanent exhibition includes a painting considered one of the finest from this period. Coat of armsThis is the only painting definitively attributed to him. "We don't know exactly where the father ends and the son begins," says Miralpeix, who emphasizes the painting's exceptionally high quality and the presence of a knot, albeit allegorical, specifically eight infants of varying ages on either side of the shields. He also highlights the artist's talent for creating the works and the spaces they depict. "It's clear these are painters who draw well, who know their craft, who have thoroughly studied anatomy. If we had preserved much more painting from this period, we would surely see many more works of this quality," explains Miralpeix, who, to complete the understanding of Catalan Baroque painting, recommends visiting the chapel of the Casa de la Convalescència, where Joan de Lluís Bonifaç's work is located.