{"id":188907,"date":"2025-10-17T13:53:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bellesguardgaudi.com\/?p=188907"},"modified":"2025-10-19T11:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T09:41:14","slug":"did-you-know-what-sant-lluc-the-circle-of-artists-who-are-friends-of-gaudi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellesguardgaudi.com\/en\/did-you-know-what-sant-lluc-the-circle-of-artists-who-are-friends-of-gaudi\/","title":{"rendered":"Did you know what? El Cercle Art\u00edstic de Sant Lluc"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ferran Garc\u00e9s<\/p>\n

In almost all the articles we have written from the modernist period, we have talked about El Cercle Art\u00edstic de Sant Lluc (in catalan, Artistic Circle of Saint Luke) It was inevitable: the time -and the figure of Gaud\u00ed- are deeply related to this institution. Its historical members include artists who marked the cultural identity of the city, as well as the personal life and works of the architect, since some were also friends and\/or co-workers. Other clients, such as the Figueras family<\/a>, the first owners of Torre Bellesguard, and Llu\u00eds Graner, painter and theatrical entrepreneur who commissioned a villa very close to this house, as well as a cinema, now disappeared, where religious shows were screened (see: the Graner chalet and the Merc\u00e8 Room<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Such a peculiar entity was born in 1883 as a result of a split in the Cercle Art\u00edstic de Barcelona, founded a little earlier, in 1881, and immediately identified with the liberal, bohemian and anticlerical tendencies. It seems that the division took place after a couple of parties with an \u201cimmoral\u201d ending (1). These indecorous ones were, among others, Ram\u00f3n Casas and Pablo Picasso. In opposition to them, the Cercle de Sant Lluc brought together the most conservative artists with a Catholic vision, and, at the same time, Catalanist, inspired by the ideas of Bishop Josep Torras i Bages, one of the most influential personalities of his time and, of course, also a friend of Gaud\u00ed (2) A good number of religious works of modernist Barcelona were then managed between members of this entity (3).<\/p>\n

We have chosen today to remember the Circle because on October 18 the festival of Saint Luc is celebrated, the patron of the institution. A very special saint. He was the author of the Gospel that bears his name and of the Acts of the Apostles, another influential book of Christianity. Tradition represents him by writing his books or by portraying the Virgin Mary, so that he was, at the same time, a writer and painter. As such, he has become patron of artists The name for the Circle of Gaud\u00ed seems, therefore, correct. Similar associations with the same name were also founded in other European cities. Next, we show a representative picture of the iconography of Saint Luke, although, according to the author and the time, this tradition has been interpreted in many different ways (see: paintings of Saint Luke).<\/p>\n

The Circle of San Lluc<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Giorgio Vasari as Saint Luke painting the Virgin\u201d, 1565. Source: Wikipedia. The bull at one end of the painting is the traditional symbol of San Lluc as an evangelist.<\/p><\/div>\n

At first it was \u201cC\u00edrcol\u201d, not \u201ccircle\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the circle was born in 1893, its name was deliberately archaic, so that, instead of \u201cCercle Art\u00edstic de Sant Lluc\u201d, its founders decided that it would be \u201cC\u00edrcol de Sant Lluch\u201d. Thus we see written in a couple of historical posters. The first is by Joan Llimona, a painter specializing in religious art and one of the founders.<\/p>\n

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Poster of the Exhibition of the C\u00edrcol de St. Lluch\u201d in 1897. Author: Joan Llimona.<\/p><\/div>\n

The second poster is by Alexandre de Riquer, a multifaceted Catalan artist who became one of the most important figures of modernism and stood out, especially, as a graphic designer. Together with Joan Llimona, he was another of the founding partners. He was an exciting advocate of the ideal of the former guilds of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood that he knew personally during a trip to England. At the entrance of the current seat of the circle, a stained glass window inspired by this poster stands out.<\/p>\n

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Poster year 1899 of the fourth exhibition of the C\u00edrcol de Sant Lluch. Author: Alexandre de Riquer. Source: MNAC Collection, National Art Museum of Catalonia.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Glass window at the entrance of the Cercle de Sant Lluc. Photo author: Juan Mar\u00eda P\u00e9rez Samper. Source: La Vanguardia.<\/p><\/div>\n

A well- Gaudinian \u201cC\u00edrcol\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cC\u00edrcol\u201d was founded by different artists and personalities of the time that often appear in any biography of Gaud\u00ed. The first of them was Joan Llimona, the author of one of the posters we have seen before and, perhaps, the most active personality of the entity (4). He was so friendly to Gaud\u00ed that he was the only artist to get the architect, of natural reserve, to come to be a model in two paintings and, in addition, to figure as a saint (see: St. Felip Neri<\/a>). The brother, Josep Llimona, collaborated with Gaud\u00ed in the Monumental Rosary of the Monastery of Montserrat, sculpting the Risen Christ. Other members of the “C\u00edrcol” related to the teacher were:<\/p>\n