40 - ENRICO CRECI ALCOBER (Italy, 1878 – Barcelona, 1935).

ENRICO CRECI ALCOBER (Italy, 1878 – Barcelona, 1935). "Rural Scene with a Hay Cart." Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower left corner. In good overall condition. Measurements: 67 × 55 cm; 94 × 81 cm (frame). Provenance: Estate of Ramon Martí Alsina and Ricard Martí Aguiló. Artistic and heritage collection originating in the legacy of Catalan painters Ramon Martí Alsina (1826–1894), a seminal figure of 19th-century Catalan Realism, and his son Ricard Martí Aguiló (1857–1935). Passed down and enriched across successive generations, the collection brings together works from the original holdings of both artists alongside acquisitions made by their descendants. Dedicated to preserving and recovering the family legacy, the descendants actively reacquired works by the painters as they entered the market, progressively expanding the collection to encompass paintings, sculptures, archaeological artifacts, and other items of artistic and historical significance. The atmospheric quality and free treatment of the subject matter place this work among the most evocative compositions in Enrico Creci Alcober’s landscape oeuvre. Although the artist is best known for his still lifes, he also painted figurative and rural scenes, as demonstrated here by this lyrical composition centered on a hay cart and several figures integrated into the surroundings. The visual weight of the cart is marked by contrast with the vastness of the sky, rendered in a light palette of blues, grays, and shades of pink. The brushwork is particularly vibrant in the vegetation and the foreground, while the stream guides the eye toward the depth of the scene. The twilight and the alternation between areas with thicker impasto and others rendered with a lighter touch reinforce the scene’s immediate and atmospheric character. Enrico Creci Alcober, also referred to as Enrico Cresi, was an Italian painter based in Barcelona who was active from the late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century. Although he was particularly noted as a still-life painter, his body of work also included figurative compositions, landscapes, and rural scenes, among them *The Goose Herder*. His work is characterized by rich colors, an interest in light, and a painterly style of remarkable quality. His works are held in the Museu d’Art de Sabadell, as well as in private collections.