Joaquin Agrasot Juan

Agrasot belongs to the Spanish colony of Rome, and then those teachers who worked in the capital in the wake of the innovative technique of Mariano Fortuny. The subject of the paintings in the gallery Berardi depicts some popular types in the square of a village in the characteristic configuration of the houses reminds Piazza delle Ville in Anticoli Corrado, near Rome.

However, it is much more likely that it is a scene of daily life set in Spain where Agrasot, after the Italian sojourn lasted from 1863 to 1875, will work almost constantly. During this stay Agrasot is tied in particular to Mariano Fortuny y Marsal and Attilio Simonetti (see G.Berardi, “Attilio Simonetti and the art of genre in Rome”, in Attilio Simonetti (1843-1925), edited by F. Frascari, forthcoming) resulting from the great Spanish master both the technique and the contacts with the international market.

On the death of Fortuny, Agrasot returned to Spain specializing in painting and in subjects casacones costumbristi, which clearly belongs to the work that analyzed here, however, is characterized by its unusually large size and the golden light and crystalline invading the painting. Easy connection with the important educational experience accomplished by Agrasot alongside Fortuny in Granada where experienced precisely the attempt to bring on the canvas the characteristic intensity of light in the region. References: Carlos Gonzalez y Montse Marti, Pintores Espanoles en Roma (1850 – 1900), Barcelona, 1987 Tusquets Editores, under the entry.