Pasqual Calbó i Caldés


Pasqual Calbó Caldés was an 18th-century enlightened painter who found in Menorca the ideal place to foster his intelligence, sensitivity and creativity, since the island had a great cultural richness open to European influences after the British invasion. Calbó wrote fluently in several languages such as Catalan, Italian and French, and got by in German, English and Spanish. Moreover, he quickly learnt to sail, what allowed him to work in Vienna, study in Rome and travel to exotic places such as the Caribbean. After travelling around the world, he came back to Menorca, where he settled down, when he was 28 years old.
His love for Menorca made him renounce his economic ambitions. His life circumstances obliged him to change his career as a painter and start working as a teacher of geometry, architecture and physics.

Family and Youth

Pasqual was the youngest of the three sons and a daughter of the Calbó – Caldés family. His siblings Juan, Vicenta and Antonia were born in 1744, 1747 and 1749 respectively. Even though the exact date of the wedding if his parents is unknown, it is known that his father was born in Aragón and worked in the maritime business, which was a career followed by his eldest son Juan, and his mother, Anna María Caldés Orfila, who was born in 1723 in Menorca.
The Calbó family lived in 15 s’Arravaleta Street. Despite their little economic resources, the family afforded that his son, apart from attending school to be taught the basic educational level of the period, had the chance to frequently take drawing and painting lessons in an academy run by famous Italian artist Giuseppe Chiesa in Mahón. In this way, Calbó started to paint since his early days, standing out among the rest of the students to the point of Chiesa himself suggesting his parents to let him go to Italy to develop his artistic talent.

Calbó and Menorca

Calbó returned to his home city, Mahón, when he was 28. Nothing of the adolescence he had when he left Menorca ten years earlier was left on him upon his arrival to the island, which was still occupied by the British, and where his old master was still alive. Even though there is no direct evidence, it is thought that Calbó visited and kept in touch with Chiesa.
During the next 7 years, after which he travelled again, he taught and produced many works of art, mostly portraits such as the one depicting his family and the portrait of count Cifuentes, which was commissioned by the University of Mahón in 1783. Pasqual Calbó made a leap in quality upon his forerunners in the description of the human figure.

Trip to [America] and return to Menorca

In summer 1787, Pasqual Calbó settled down in America, where he became a landscapist. At the beginning, after drawing some fortifications and the city, he was detained and taken as a spy, the reason why he was taken before the governor, who ordered his immediate arrest. He was released two days later, thanks to the mediation of the captain of the ship by which he got the America. After his liberation, he applied to a permit to stay as a painter, which was dismissed. Then, he travelled to New Orleans, where it is not known whether he stayed or not. Be it as it may, it is certain that he moved to Santo Domingo at the service of the king of France. In this period he painted “Dance of black people” and “Hairdressers of blacks”, which, apart from displaying a great beauty, they show a big step forward in his work, since he approached to the exoticism that triumphed in Europe a century later.
In 1790 he went back to Menorca for good, where he worked in teaching and painting once more. This is when he drew a great series of drawings depicting the main professions of the period During this period he also gathered several treatises dedicated to his students, which included texts written by him in a perfect Catalan language accompanied with accurate drawings.
In 1812, after an intense career, he had a paralysis in both hands, which obliged him to stop painting. Five years later, he died in his home at age 65 and was buried in the family pantheon of the old Catholic Cemetery of Mahón.

Work

His artistic career has not been sufficiently recognised, since he should be considered as one of the most important painters of the 18th century, both at a national and international level.
Moreover, he was also a skilful writer, being both excellent at painting and writing.
Regarding his paintings and drawings, his main influence was his master Chiesa, from whom he took his taste for fidelity, thoroughness, objectivity and realism. During his stay in Rome, he became an admirer of Mengs, getting influenced by his work too as is shown in the copy of one of his most famous paintings, Parnaso de Villa Albani and the wall paintings of Hall of the Papyri in the Vatican Library.
Three main topics can be spotted in his work:

Religious paintings

Some of the most outstanding works in this category, all presenting showing an educational purpose, are two sketches for the decoration of an arch depicting the Theological virtues and an altarpiece for the private chapel at s’Aranjaça, currently located in Ateneo de Mahón.

Landscapes

Unfortunately, few pieces are preserved from this category, but the existing ones tend to faithfully imitate nature. However, color steps away from reality to show dull colour-schemes and gray tonalities, endowing his works a dreamy touch. The use of green colours, a cloudy backgrounds and illuminated human figures make his work and that of Michele Pagano somewhat similar.

Portraits

His command of several techniques is perfectly shown in the portraits, what allows him to delve into the psychology of the portrayed people. In this way, portraits are his most outstanding and recognised paintings, including the official and the private portraits.

Important dates

From 1770 to 1774: He enriched his education in the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice.
1774: He was appointed pensionary of her Imperial Highness Maria Theresa of Spain.
From 1774 to 1778: He studied in the French Academy in Rome.
1778: He travelled to Vienna.
1779: He was appointed as the artist of the court of Vienna in the Imperial Gallery of Belvedere. In this same year he started to work in the same gallery.
1780: He returned to his home city: Mahón.
1787: His health got worse and his melancholy increased, which made him travel La Habana.
1790: Calbó leaves America and settles down in Menorca until his death.
After his death:
1866: He was designated an Illustrious son by the city council of Mahón. His portrait was placed in the session room of the town hall.
1912: A copy of his portrait was placed in the gallery of illustrious Menorcans in the Town Hall of Mahon.