The Framed Figure: Works from the Casacuberta Marsans Collection

Museus de Sitges presents a selection of works from the Casacuberta Marsans collection in the newly restored Vaixells Room at the Palau de Maricel. This is the first time that a group of significant works from this collection —which spans from the Gothic period to modern day— has been shown to the public.  

The exhibition, The Framed Figure: Works from the Casacuberta Marsans Collection, focuses on two main aspects: on one hand, the group of twenty paintings on view, and on the other, the pivotal role of frames in not just accompanying the paintings but in being fundamental to their understanding. The exhibition title (“The Framed Figure”) reflects this crucial role frames have as an integral part of the artwork, or even as an artwork in themselves.

The exhibition has been curated by Art Historian and Collections Conservator Nadia Hernández, along with Head of Collections Ignasi Domènech at Museus de Sitges. The works will be on display in the Vaixells Room at Palau de Maricel until September 29th. The Vaixells Room has been restored as a gallery for temporary exhibitions at Museus de Sitges. The collection —promoted by Fernando Casacuberta and Rosario Marsans— is being presented to the public for the first time thanks to the generous collaboration of its owners, who plan to open a permanent exhibition space in Barcelona in the upcoming months.

The Paintings on Display

The selection spans a broad chronological range, from Gothic art to Hispanic painting from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The exhibition includes 21 paintings featuring prominent names in Catalan art history, such as Jaume Serra, Francesc Gimeno, Lluís Borrassà, Alonso Cano, Andrés Vaccaro, Ignacio Zuloaga, Pablo Gargallo and Hermen Anglada-Camarasa. This selection offers a thorough and refined insight into 700 years of painting history.

The Casacuberta Marsans collection consists of nearly 300 works, including paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. The majority of the works belong to the Middle Ages, to the Crown of Aragon, and the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During the last edition of the Art Market, Collections and Museums symposium —held last October and organised by Museus de Sitges—, the Casacuberta Marsans collection was a key subject.

The Frames on Display

Besides the paintings, The Framed Figure also emphasizes the importance of frames as works of art. All paintings on display wear frames of remarkable artistic, historical and cultural value. In addition to this, the exhibition also features thirty frames showcased as standalone works of art.

In recent years, art history studies have increasingly recognised the value of frames from an artistic and heritage point of view. This approach views frames as objects created not only to provide structure and protection for artworks but also as pieces that convey the aesthetic values of the period in which they were crafted, establishing a dialogue with the paintings they enclose. Notably, museums such as the Louvre or the Prado have begun to highlight their historic frames, creating dedicated exhibition spaces and specific itineraries to see their most significant examples in this category.

The Casacuberta Marsans Collection is notable not only for the value of its artworks but also for the acquisition of important antique frames to accompany the paintings. Research and work on these frames have been carried out out by Horacio Pérez-Hita, a Spanish leading expert in the field.

The exhibition catalogue also includes an article by Ignasi Domènech titled “Antique and Modern Frames in the Santiago Rusiñol Collection”, which explores Rusiñol’s appreciation for these pieces. The article highlights that “the Cau Ferrat in Sitges, where Santiago Rusiñol displayed his collections from 1894, serves as both a catalogue and a testament to the painter’s passions and obsessions. In this small chamber of wonders, where every object fights for attention, one surprising feature stands out: the selection of antique frames from different periods for the paintings that hang on its walls. This case is particularly interesting due to Rusiñol’s dual role as both a painter and a collector, which allowed him to understand the needs of paintings.”

Private Catalan Collections

The Framed Figure: Works from the Casacuberta Marsans Collection is the second exhibition organised by Museus de Sitges to showcase private Catalan collections, many of which are often inaccessible to the public. Last year, the Bertrán Collection was the focus of the first exhibition, featuring works by El Greco, Zurbarán and Goya, among others.

This initiative to present privately-owned works aligns with a core idea of the identity of the Cau Ferrat, Maricel and Romantic Museums—Can Llopis. Cau Ferrat’s origins are found in Santiago Rusiñol’s collection, just as Maricel’s are rooted in the collection of Dr. Jesús Pérez Rosales, or the Lola Anglada doll collection, which has a central role in the Romantic Museum.

As Ignasi Domènech points out, “The Santiago Rusiñol collection and the Casacuberta Marsans collection represent a kind of temporal palindrome in Catalan collecting: the Cau Ferrat preserves and permanently displays the oldest Catalan private collection in its original setting, while the works from the collection invited by Museus de Sitges in the summer of 2024 represent one of the latest and most prominent collections to have recently emerged.”