Lluís Bonifaç

Lluís Bonifaç i Massó (* 1730 in Valls , † 1786 in Valls) was a Catalan sculptor.

He is the most famous member of a Baroque sculpting dynasty:

• Grandfather: Lluís Bonifaç, called "the old man" ( Marseille 17th century - Riudoms 1696)
• Father: Lluís Bonifaç i Sastre ( Barcelona 1683 - Valls 1765)
• Brother: Francesc Bonifaç i Massó (Valls 1735 - Tarragona 1806)

The artistic development

Lluís Bonifaç: Alabaster medallion of Saint Sebastian

The work of Lluís Bonifaç i Massó forms the transition from baroque to academic art .

With a small medallion made of alabaster , Lluís Bonifaç succeeded in being accepted into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in 1763 . The scene depicts Saint Sebastian , who is still alive , while the Roman women Irene and Lucila remove his arrows after his martyrdom . The composition was deliberately kept very complex, as Bonifaç was keen to impress the academy's jurors. Admission to the academy did not just mean public recognition. It was connected with the elevation into the nobility and with the privileges associated with it.

He was the teacher of Ramon Amadeu

The work

Other well-known works by Lluís Bonifaç are the depiction of a "Christ on the pillar" in La Selva del Camp (1766) and Saint John on an altarpiece in Cubelles (1764). Occasionally he also worked in the monasteries of Poblet , Escaladei and Vallbona de las Monges . Works by him can also be found in Reus and Alcover .

His most important work, however, was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 : 1774–1779 he created 153 reliefs for the lower choir of the Lleida Cathedral . Only drawings and photographs remain of these masterpieces.