Caricatures of 19th century Barcelona at Museu Frederic Marès

In 1866, Josep Parera emerged from obscurity to become the court painter to Isabella II of Spain. Three years later, following orders from the Infant of Spain, Sebastian Gabriel de Borbón, Parera moved to the Occitan town of Pau. In his role as the painter and councilor to the prince, he later moved to Italy, where he lived until 1882, the year of his return to Barcelona. Although he maintained a loyalty to the genre of portraiture in oils and pastel, he became a notable Catalan caricaturist of the characters of his time, creating work of extraordinary quality in that genre. A large selection of his work can be found in the collection of Joaquim Maria de Nadal and Italy there are a number of caricatures by him of the greatest names of the Rissorgimento names which have been the focus of a number of major exhibitions.

Caricatures of 19th Century Barcelona, which can be seen from the 12th of May to the 25th of September, evokes the 19th century city through some fifty caricatures of some of the leading personalities of the second half of the century, when the walled city was expanding to become the modern city of Eixample, by Josep Parera i Romero (Almeria, 1828?-Barcelona, 1902), which were donated to the museum by Joaquim de Nadal.

Additionally, bear in mind that the 15th of May sees the next instalment in the 'Musicant el Frederic Marès' cycle, featuring 'La Ferlandina, a concert of Baroque music for harpsichord and violin 'featuring works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Fontana and Balconierni.

Caricatures of 19th Century Barcelona at Museu Frederic Marès
When: 12 May to 25 September.
Where: Frederic Marès Museum.
Price: €4.20.
Additional information is available here.