Page 246 - The mystery of faith

JOAN GRAU

(Constanti, Tarragona 1608 – 1685 Manresa, Bages)

27. Bust of a Mourning Woman, in Three-Quarter Relief

c. 1659–1671
Alabaster

34 x 29 cm (13 ? x 11 ? in.)
PROVENANCE: Caylus Gallery, Madrid

T he present piece can be confidently attributed to the Catalan sculptor Joan Grau. The quality
of this alabaster, the expressive physiognomy, the sculptor’s use of sinuous curves and lines,
the arch of the eyebrows, the patent triangle in the nasal bone, the sharp profile of the jaw,
the folds of the ear, and the rhythmic and meandering waves of hair are all typical of Grau’s
known work.

Joan Grau was one of the most interesting figures working on retablos in seventeenth-century
Catalonia. Born in Constanti (Tarragona), his career at his influential workshop in Manresa spanned
more than six decades. Together with his first son Francesc (1638–1693), who had been working with
him since around 1650, and his grandson Joan II, Grau became one of the most important sculptors
producing religious works for Catalan churches.

Amongst his known works is the large altarpiece at the Monastery of Sant Benet de Bages (1641,
dismantled but partially preserved); the altarpiece in the Monastery of Sant Benet de Bages,
commissioned by the Confraternity of the Rosary, which is considered his masterpiece (1642,
dismembered but completely preserved at the Museu Comarcal de Manresa), the large altarpiece in the
Church of Sant Iscle i Santa Victòria de Rajadell (1646, parts of which are kept at the Museu Comarcal
de Manresa); the large altarpieces at Sant Martí de Llanera, near Solsona (now in the Church of
l’Hostal Nou) and at Asunción de Pujalt (both saved from destruction in 1936), and the lost altarpieces
at Sant Vicenç de Pinós (1651, known only by a photograph taken prior to its destruction) and at Sant
Fruitós de Bages (1684).

His son Francesc also created magnificent retablo altarpieces. Two of the most spectacular and
sophisticated of these date from the late seventeenth century. These are the large altarpiece in the parish
church at Alcocer (now only documented in old photographs), and another in the Capilla de la
Inmaculada Concepción of Tarragona Cathedral, which was designed by the Carmelite architect Fra
Josep de la Concepció, who was also responsible for the design of the whole chapel.

What made Grau and his workshop uniquely influential in seventeenth century Catalonia was his equal
capacity for working in wood, alabaster or marble, an ability that distinguished him from the
mainstream of the country’s sculpture industry. Grau carved the sepulchre of Viscount Joan Ramon

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