Category: Collection

The process of restoring the Christ and cross from Capdella/2

The restoration that sheds light on a work affected by the passage of time. Front and back of the Christ and the cross prior to restoration. Photograph by Jordi Calveras. In the post published on 10 June last year reference was made to the many earlier restorations prior to the admission of the Christ and…

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Author: Anna Carreras

Lina Ódena, the legend of the militiawoman who committed suicide, and the mayor of el prat

Eduard Vallès 18 November 1939. Camp de la Bota, Barcelona At a quarter to six in the morning Lluís Serra Giribert (Manresa, 1903 – Barcelona, 1939) was executed by firing squad at Camp de la Bota. He was 36. Born in Manresa, he was adopted by a well-to-do family in Horta de Sant Joan (Terra…

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Author: Eduard Vallès

Carracci’s frescoes under the microscope

Now, that the exhibition of the frescoes of the Herrera Chapel by Annibale Carracci has just finished, we take the opportunity to share some of the experiences and information, the result of observing samples of these paintings under the microscope. Usually, the magnification of the combinations of pigment particles in works of art provide images…

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Author: Núria Oriols

The altarpiece of Saint Anthony the Abbot, ergotism and the antonians

Dr. Xavier Sierra i Valentí This text is an extract from the article «The altarpiece of Saint Anthony the Abbot, ergotism and the Antonians» that Xavier Serra i Valentí published in Gimbernat: Revista d’Història de la Medicina i de les Ciències de la Salut, 2021, vol. 75, p. 169-180. Altarpiece of Saint Anthony the Abbot,…

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Author: Dr. Xavier Sierra i Valentí

The Heartbeat of Nature. Drawings from the 19th century from the Museu Nacional collection

Francesc Quílez and Aleix Roig Images of the exhibition. Photo: Marta Mérida The exhibition The Heartbeat of Nature has been put together from the different elements arising from the artist’s relationship with nature. The connecting thread is work on paper, present in the six sections of the exhibition, in which the nearly 80 pieces are…

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Author: Francesc Quílez and Aleix Roig

Nature and modern artistic sensibility

Francesc Quílez and Aleix Roig The exhibition The Heartbeat of Nature is intended to be an immersive experience, given that it immerses us in the relationship, the very close contact, that in the nineteenth century artists established with the physical environment, and how this connection was transformed into a very fruitful response, which gave rise…

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Author: Francesc Quílez and Aleix Roig

Jacopo Amigoni and the replicas of the «Portrait of the Marquis of La Ensenada»

Àngels Comella and Joan Yeguas In the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Barcelona) and the Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid), two virtually identical portraits are conserved. This leads us to formulate different questions. Could both paintings have been done by the same artist? If they were, what part did the painter’s workshop play in it?…

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Author: Àngels Comella and Joan Yeguas

The Collaborative DNA of Museums

Conxa Rodà This post is a version of the talk given within the framework of the #JornadaCoeli22 held in the Ateneu Barcelonès on 2nd June. Humans have had collaborative DNA since prehistoric times: to hunt mammoths, to survive, men did so in groups. Today, in order to carry out our projects successfully, we need to…

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Author: Conxa Rodà

Seeing art from a more inclusive perspective

Students of 2n Baccalaureate A (Centre d’Estudis Jaume Balmes) We are a group of students from the second course of Baccalaureate from the Jaume Balmes Study Centre in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. On the 4th of February we visited the various rooms of the permanent collection of the MNAC museum to see the diverse styles and…

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Author: Estudiants de 2n Batxillerat A

From Catalonia to Ukraine. From 1936 to 2022. Wars and heritage

Mireia Capdevila and Francesc Vilanova Curators of the exhibition The Museum in Danger! The Safeguarding and Organization of Catalan Art During the Civil War, MNAC, July 2021-February 2022 From the autumn of 1934, with the creation of a modern, functional and comprehensive museum of art at the service of the country, thanks to the efforts…

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Author: Mireia Capdevila and Francesc Vilanova