111 - Early 20th-century Spanish school.

Early 20th-century Spanish school. “Seascape.” Oil on canvas. With an apocryphal signature, “R. Martí y Alsina,” in the lower right corner. Measurements: 90 x 160 cm; 108 x 178 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. This canvas depicts a landscape in the costumbrista style, rendered with loose brushstrokes that reveal clear Impressionist roots, and with particular attention to light and atmospheric effects. The treatment of the water deserves special mention; it reflects the sky and thus appears practically flat and empty, rendered in a way that inevitably recalls Eastern art and its rhetorical use of negative space.