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| Mestres Cabanes’ mural for the Liceu is his best-known civil work although, as well as his work at the Liceu, during those years he carried out other projects for the churches of Santa Maria in Montcada and those of the Redemptorists, as well as for private patrons, etc. Other more private works on secular themes included various collaborations in the sixties, although in that decade he focused a great deal on religious murals. In the early and mid-twentieth century, Barcelona was an extraordinarily Wagnerian city. During that period, Mestres Cabanes, who had been completely captivated by the Romantic nature of Wagner’s works, received commissions from various ardently Wagnerian private customers to decorate the walls of their homes. Here he was able to pour out all his romantic sensitivity, as well as developing the detailism that always most characterised him. He also felt the need to put religious subjects in his painting and in this area the altarpieces at La Seu in Manresa and the murals in the Redemptorists’ churches in Carrer Balmes in Barcelona, Santa Maria in Montcada and Puigcerdà are outstanding. Mestres Cabanes also devoted a large part of his time to restoring existing works, particularly at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Particularly outstanding is the repair of the Rest Room ceiling and the allegory of German (Valkyrie), italian (Othelo) and french (Manon), operas painted by Lorenzale in 1908 on the proscenium opening. We must also not forget the proscenium arch opening at the Cervantes Theatre in Buenos Aires, where he reproduced allegories of the Castile of Cervantes in an entirely figurative way and with decoration in the purest traditional style, or the sketch for the ceiling of the Real Theatre in Madrid. |
Painting from the Wagner room in the Tarrés House (1949-1950). It represents a scene with Wotan and the Valkyrie, act I.
Decoration from a chapel of the Redemptorists church in Carrer Balmes, Barcelona (1954): Sant Jordi i el drac (Saint George and the dragon). |
