70 - RICARD MARTÍ AGUILÓ (Barcelona, 1857–1935).

RICARD MARTÍ AGUILÓ (Barcelona, 1857–1935). Set of four landscapes. Oil on panel. One signed "R.M." in the lower right corner. Measurements: 13.5 x 22 cm each; 15 x 23.5 cm (frames). 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 set of landscapes is part of the tradition of Catalan realist landscape painting that developed between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the depiction of nature gradually moved away from the idealized and theatrical vision of Romanticism to focus on direct observation of the environment, the capture of light, and atmospheric truth. Ricard Martí Aguiló, son and disciple of Ramon Martí Alsina, developed a realist body of work centered on landscape, seascape, portraiture, and still life. In 1891, he participated in the General Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and that same year he painted the Portrait of Narcís Monturiol, which is currently part of the Gallery of Illustrious Catalans at the Barcelona History Museum. His connection to Cadaqués also had a documentary aspect, as he practiced amateur photography there and left behind numerous sketches of the town and its surroundings.