Agustín Querol y Subirats (Tortosa, Tarragona, 1860 – Madrid, 1909)

Agustín Querol y Subirats is one of the most important sculptors from late 19th-century Spain; he had a large atelier where he could work on his numerous commissions. Trained at the Lonja School and in the ateliers of Domingo Talarn and the brothers Agapito and Venancio Vallmitjana in Barcelona, he was a full grant recipient at the Academy of Spain in Rome between 1884 and 1888 and an honorary recipient between 1889 and 1893. Upon his return, he garnered a great deal of national and international prestige, as confirmed by the numerous medals he won at exhibitions in both Spain and abroad, such as the first class medals at the 1888 Barcelona Universal Expo, the 1889 Paris Universal Expo, the 1894 and 1898 Vienna Universal Expos, the 1896 Berlin International Expo and the Paris Universal Expo in 1900. He was also a sculpture curator and interim director of the Modern Art Museum and was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholic and Alphonse XII.

His creations, which are crafted of clay, bronze and marble, particularly focus on storytelling, expressiveness and the pictorial effects of the materials. Throughout his career, they evolved from a realistic tendency framed within academic classicism towards the more sinuous forms of Art Nouveau.