Facsimile (first and only edition, 1985), signed on plate, on high-quality, high-weight Guarro paper, very slightly grained. Title printed below the image: 'Sketch for Guglielmo Ratcliff, by Pietro Mascagni. Act III. Gran Teatro del Liceo, 1919'.
The artist (1846-1919), renowned in 19th century Spanish realism and symbolism, and with a symbolic language that sometimes makes him similar to that of Modest Urgell, participated in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts in Madrid (1871, 1876 and 1878), where he was awarded, and in Girona and Barcelona; In 1911 he was awarded a gold medal.
The possibilities of the large dimensions of scenic canvases took him from painting to theatrical painting, and from 1881 he painted decorations for the Liceo, Principal, Romea and other theaters, as well as Artworks in Buenos Aires, Havana and Guatemala, and for Artworks such as Twilight of the Gods (Richard Wagner), among others.
He was a painter in 1881 in the Imperial Japanese Pavilion, and continued applying the Japanese aesthetics, very in vogue at the end of the century. He painted at the entrance to the Universal Exposition site, a good way to show his fundamental motivation: to unite painting and scenographic and landscape spectacle, to bring to the theater the internal palpitation of the forests and the earth. This Artwork by Urgellés clearly shows this idea. He also collaborated with symbolist designs with the playwright and plastic artist Adrià Gual. The painting presented here, in facsimile format, was from his last set design, for the Liceu, the year of his death.
Overall dimensions: 44 x 58 cm; image: 29 x 33 cm. Frameless. Edited by the Barcelona Provincial Council/Institut del Teatre, 1985. Part of Urgellés' Artwork is in the Liceu Art Fund, and in its Historical Archive, as well as in other funds and collections.