JOAN GRAU Y TALLER

(1608 / 1685)

JOAN GRAU AND TALLER Constanti (1608) / Manresa (1685) "Altarpiece dedicated to Saint Thomas of Villanueva", 1676

Carved, polychrome, gilded and stewed wood This is an altarpiece with three sections with a relief in the attic in which It represents Saint Thomas of Villanueva distributing alms. Topped by three domes with an angel on the sides and the coat of arms of the Colom family in the center. The central part has three niches with Solomonic columns on their sides and relief decoration of rockeries and cherubs. The same Plateresque decoration that can be seen on the bench and the basement, where there is also a cartouche in the central part with a dove and the letters CM that possibly also allude to the Colom family, who would have expressly commissioned the creation. of the altarpiece for an oratory or private chapel. Joan Grau was a baroque sculptor who worked in Catalonia where he enjoyed notoriety with commissions such as the main altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary in the Church of San Pedro Martir in Manresa, or several works in the Monastery of Poblet, among others. Provenance: -Colom Family -Acquired by Don Francisco Serramalera de Abadal in 1928 for his Minerva mansion on Avenida Diagonal 668 in Barcelona -Private collection Reference bibliography: -"Record of the act of inauguration of the altarpiece of the roser of the church parish church of Sta. Maria d'Agramunt. -VV.AA., "The Catalan, Valencian and Balearic solar", volume II, pp. 37 and 38 and plates 4 and 5 Measurements: 307 x 220 cm