Joan Antoni Desvalls i d'Ardena

Joan Antoni Desvalls i d'Ardena

Joan Antoni Desvalls i d'Ardena , in Spanish Juan Antonio Desvalls y de Ardena, (born October 26, 1740 in Barcelona ; † March 10, 1820 ibid) sisè marquès de Llupià, quart del Poal i marquès consort d'Alfarràs (sixth Marquis von Llupià , fourth from Poal and Marquis of Alfarràs by marriage ) was a Catalan nobleman, landowner, scientist and art lover. He is considered one of the most renowned scholars in Barcelona from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century.

Life

Coat of arms of the Desvalls family

The Parc del Laberint d'Horta in Barcelona

Desvalls came from an old noble family that dates back to the time of King James I and was the grandson of the field marshal lieutenant in the Habsburg service of Antoni Desvalls i de Vergós . In his youth he devoted himself mainly to music and painting, later he studied at the Col·legi de Cordelles , one of the most prestigious schools in Barcelona, ​​where he was a student and collaborator of the mathematician Tomàs Cerdà . In addition to the natural sciences, he studied geography and history and learned Latin , French and Italian alongside . In 1769 he married Maria Teresa de Ribes i d'Olzinelles marquesa d'Alfarràs (Marquise of Alfarràs).

In 1764 Desvalls worked as one of the founders of the Conferència Físicomatemàtica Experimental (the "Experimental Physico-Mathematical Conference"), whose honorary secretary he was for life. In addition, from 1773 he was a member of the Reial Acadèmia de la Història (the “Royal Academy of History”) and from 1799 to 1808 and again from 1814 to 1820 Vice-President of the Reial Acadèmia de Ciències Naturals i Arts in Barcelona (the “Royal Academy for natural sciences and arts ”). He owned an extensive collection of scientific equipment, an important library and was himself the author of various scientific works on questions of physics , zoology , geology and meteorology .

From 1791 he had a classicist garden laid out on the property of his summer residence on the slope of the Serra de Collserola in Horta near Barcelona , known as Parc del Laberint d'Horta . The park with various allusions to Greek mythology is based on Desvall's own designs, which he had executed in collaboration with the Italian architect Domenico Bagutti .

When the first coalition war against revolutionary France broke out in 1793, he organized a military unit made up of volunteers on behalf of the city of Barcelona. Since he had contributed significant sums of money to support the Spanish troops in the Spanish War of Independence from 1808 to 1814, he had to hide from the French for a time, who confiscated some of his property. In 1812 he was elected to represent Barcelona for the Cortes de Cádiz , but could not take part due to illness.

Scientific work (selection)

• Observación del fenómeno celeste de 2 de junio de 1766 (“Observation of the celestial phenomenon of June 2, 1766”), 1766
• Disertación sobre los terremotos (“Dissertation on earthquakes”), 1783
• Sobre la aplicación de las fuerzas centrales (“On the application of central forces”), 1786
• Los medios de perfeccionar el estudio de la meteorología (“The Means for Perfecting the Study of Meteorology”), 1796

literature

• Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana . Enciclopèdia Catalana SA, Barcelona 2003, ISBN 84-85194-81-0 .
• Joaquim Llaró i Vidal: Elogio del ISD Juan Antonio Desvalls y de Ardena Marqués de Lupiá y vicepresidente de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias Naturales y Artes de esta ciudad . Barcelona 1820.
• Maria Rosa Moreno: Els Jardins del Laberint d'Horta . 1rs Quaderns de l'Arxiu, Ajuntament de Barcelona, ​​Barcelona 1996.