The Early 19th Century. Academicism
Catalan Neoclassical art reflects the historical circumstances of aesthetic commitment to the academicist proposals of the last third of the 18th century. One of the leading artistic figures of the period was Josep Bernat Flaugier, a painter of French descent who was appointed Director of the Llotja art school in 1809, a post he held until 1812. As his Portrait of King Joseph I proves, Flaugier was sympathetic to the French cause. The social turmoil originated by the evolution of Barcelona fashion in the early 19th century is described in a caricatural way by Salvador Mayol, one of Flaugier's chief followers. In his turn, Francesc Lacoma i Fontanet, a Catalan artist established in Paris, specialised in still lifes as illustrated by Vase with Flowers, while as chamber artist at the court of Ferdinand VII, Vicente López consolidated his rank as leading Spanish portrait painter of the period with the work Portrait of the Marquise of Labrador.
