The Great Day of Girona

Several studies claimed that Martí Alsina possibly decided on a work of great dimensions in order to rival The Battle of Tetuan by Marià Fortuny, a work which was commissioned by the council of Barcelona and which achieved considerable success on a European level. Martí Alsina located a large studio space, called the "Casino de Sants," to accommodate his project. The premises are believed to have been situated in building number 300 of the high street in the neighbourhood of Sants, an address consistent with the documentation of the work in 1882.[4] The artist brought various types of armour, weapons and historical objects to the studio to achieve the highest degree of standard in his work. He also utilized dozens of models whom he dressed in costumes specifically made for the occasion.[5] Martí Alsina also visited Girona repeatedly, as can be observed from the hundreds of surviving sketches he made of the city. Some of these sketches are currently held in private collections while others are stored in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) and the Museum of Art Girona.

Martí Alsina's first attempts occurred in 1859, as confirmed by a letter sent to him from Girona dated 14 October 1859. The letter was a response to information solicited by the artist regarding flags and other details that would be included in the work; the painter wished the final result to be as realistic as possible.[6][7] Due to the fact that he ordered a frame for the work to be made in March 1864,[8] it is believed that his intention was to send the work to the National Exhibition of Fine Arts that year. However, when Martí Alsina received critical comments from friends regarding the piece, he decided instead to continue working on the canvas. He never signed the finished work, which remained in his studio during his lifetime.

Years later, Martí Alsina took advantage of some of the research material and sketches he had accumulated to create two works relating to the Siege of Girona -- Heroines of Girona, which was displayed in the 1868 Society of Exhibitions of the Fine Arts in Barcelona (Sociedad para Exposiciones de Bellas Artes, Barcelona) and The Company of Saint Barbara, which was displayed in the 1891 exhibition of the Palace of Fine Arts (Palau de les Belles Arts).

Personal documents confirm that Martí Alsina used The Great Day of Girona to guarantee a debt of 20,000 pesetas that he owed to Pau Borrell. As the painter was not able to settle the loan, Borrell assumed temporary ownership of the work. In 1894 Martí Alsina came to an agreement with the heirs of Borrell and succeeded in regaining ownership of the work in exchange for 14 others.[9] An article published during that time in El Divulio claims that Martí Alsina subsequently attempted to sell the work to the City Council of Barcelona for a sum of 15,000 pesetas.

Although The Great Day of Girona is the painting's most common title and its name in the catalogue of the MNAC, the work is sometimes referred to as The Defenders of Girona. The origin of the title is believed to be Colonel Blas de Fournàs, who described the events of 19 September 1809 (during which over 1,000 people died) as "the great day of Girona." In some of Martí Alsina’s personal documents, however, the piece was referred to as The Defenders of Girona and even The Painting of Girona.

The Great Day of Girona in the Palace of Fine Arts, Barcelona

After Martí Alsina's death in 1894, Joan Nepomucè Font i Sangrà, a private collector and enthusiast of his work, acquired The Great Day of Girona and offered the work to the city council of Barcelona to be exhibited in the Exhibition of Fine Arts. The work, however, was first exhibited in 1898 as part of an exhibition organised to display the works of deceased artists. After this exhibition, the work was deposited in the Hall of Queen Regent in the Museum of Fine Arts, Barcelona (Museu Munincipal de Belles Arts de Barcelona) and later transferred to the Museum of Decorative Arts and Archaeology (Museu d’Arts Decoratives i Arqueològic). The work was still in storage by 1904, which sparked Font i Sangrà to question whether it was due to a lack of exhibition space or location that the work remained unseen ("si per manca de local no pot ser exposada"). Carles Bofarull, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, responded:

In 1905, Font i Sangrà reclaimed the painting and, due to its dimensions, decided to hang it in a chapel (specially extended for the occasion) on his personal property in Cardadeu, Ca n’Eres Vall. While he kept the bulk of his personal collection at his home (38 Ronda de Sant Pere), The Great Day of Girona became somewhat of a tourist attraction in Cardadeu, as Font i Sagrà took pleasure in showing the work to all who came to see it. After some negotiation, the painting became the property of the City Council of Barcelona as a legacy and was accepted on 18 June 1929. The painting was subsequently added to the collection of the Palace of Fine Arts and put on permanent display in the Hall of Queen Regent.[10] When the MNAC was created in 1934, many of the works from the Palace of Fine Arts were transferred to the National Palace; however, those of larger measurements such as The Great Day of Girona remained in the Palace of Fine Arts.

In 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, the Palace of Fine Arts was used as a location for meetings and conferences, and that summer, the glass building was the victim of a bombardment that destroyed its roof. The destruction caused damage to The Great Day of Girona, including cracks extending over five meters. Once the war ended, it was decided that until the work could be restored, due to its extraordinary size, it would be rolled up and stored for its protection at the MNAC. Restoration commenced in 2009.

To mark the bicentenary of the French War and the 1809 Siege of Girona, the Museum of Art, Girona and the historian Maria Lluïsa Faxedas held a commemorative exhibition. The Great Day of Girona was requested on loan from MNAC, but the work first needed to be restored. The restoration project was a joint effort between the MNAC, the Department of Culture of the government of Catalonia, and the Museum of Art, Girona and was financed by the foundation Caixa Girona. Until this point, the painting had been stored in one of the reserves of the MNAC for over seventy years, except for a small intervention in 1998 when the work was rolled out and photographed while the piece was moved between the museum's internal reserves.

On 14 September 2009, a team of experts from the MNAC and the Centre de Restauració de Bens Mobles de Catalunya (CRBMC), under the direction of Mireia Mestre, Míria Pedragosa and Maite Tomeu, began to roll out the canvas for its inspection in the Oval Hall of the National Palace, Barcelona.

The Great Day of Girona in the Oval Hall, MNAC

Over three days, an organoleptic examination of the piece was undertaken before it was prepared for shipment to the CRBMC in Valldoreix. The examination included a study of both the front and back of the canvas, macroscopic and microscopic observations of the materials, and samples were taken in order to carry out various physical and chemical analysis of the painting.

The painting was photographed using techniques including ultraviolet light and transillumination. Research regarding the reserves of the museum and works by artists of the same period was conducted in order to make relevant comparisons to the state of The Great Day of Girona. Due to the peculiarity of the great dimensions of the work, it was saved from more invasive restoration procedures such as relining or general varnishing, techniques that were common artwork conservation practices at the time.

During the restoration, a first-of-its kind in Catalan history due to its scale, Martí Alsina’s manuscripts and images of the painting (before its damage in 1938), were used as references. Before commencing the restoration, physicochemical studies were conducted, samples of primer, paint and varnish were analysed, and reflectographies were taken. The analysis of the canvas material was undertaken in collaboration with the Technical Centre of Spinning (el Centre Tècnic de Filatura) of the Polytechnic University in Barcelona. Throughout the restoration project, the work was documented and photographed, and its progression was reported in the media. Each process during the restoration was realised according to the criterion of minimum intervention.

The team divided the restorative tasks into phases to accommodate the piece's large dimensions. The process began with the reverse side. Examinations indicated that the preparatory layer was made from a mixture of white led barium sulfate and calcium carbonate. The fabric of the canvas had a large tear nearly 7 feet (2.1 m) long. The tear was sutured, thread by thread, using a mixture of sturgeon glue and wheat starch. The canvas's face was cleaned in two phases: the first consisted of removing dust that had accumulated on the surface. The second involved using a gel solution to remove dirt that had become attached to the surface. Any polychrome losses were then replaced by applying a putty made from ground calcite (also known as "blanc d’Espanya") and rabbit-skin glue. The restoration of The Great Day of Girona is considered an exceptional project due to its application of minimum intervention criteria and use of innovative techniques and has become a benchmark of restoration work throughout Spain.

The restored work was installed on 14 September 2010 in the Josep Irla Auditorium of the Old Hospital of Santa Caterina, Girona, where it had been moved directly from the restoration centre in Valldoreix. The work was transported in a truck and unloaded by a team of eight handlers under the supervision of a team of restorers and other professionals.

The painting in the Josep Irla Auditorium

To ensure correct handling, Chassitech construction company was hired to create a metallic structure (a double-railed anodized aluminum frame with wooden profiles) designed to facilitate future maintenance. The staff at the Museum of Art, Girona, assumed responsibility for the climate control of the painting's new environment and ensured that its lighting levels did not exceed 150–200 lux. Between 14 and 16 September. the work hung from the aluminum structure and was presented to the press a few days after its installation.

The inauguration of its exhibition took place on 23 October 2010. During 2012, Google Art Project, together with MNAC, chose the painting to be photographed as part of the collection of their online platform.[11]

'The Anatomy of a Painting'

Following the restoration and translation of the painting, an exhibition entitled "Ramon Martí Alsina. The Great Day of Girona. Anatomy of a Painting" was held from 23 October 2010 to 29 May 2011. The exhibition was organised by the Museum of Art Girona in collaboration with MNAC and was curated by Maria Lluïsa Faxedas, professor at the University of Girona and an expert on the subject. The objective of the exhibition was to investigate the painter's motives for realising the work and was held in three locations in Girona:

'The Anatomy of a Painting'

• Josep Irla Auditorium: situated in the government of Girona, it is the definitive space where the painting is exhibited
• Plenary Hall of the Council of Girona: permanent exhibition space of the ‘Heroines of Girona’, another work by Martí Alsina
• Museum of Art Girona: exhibition of sketches and preparatory drawings based on the work