Burning chapel of Luis Álvarez Catalá

The painter Luis Álvarez Catalá served as Director of the Museo del Prado from 1898 until his death in 1901. He died while still in office, and in accordance with the custom of the time, his funeral wake was held in the rotunda that leads to the main gallery halls of the Museum. The press described how a modest catafalque, draped in black cloths adorned with gold, was erected in that space, upon which rested an ebony coffin. Surrounding it were floral wreaths and large candles, while at the head stood a mourning-draped altar with a crucifix. A large number of visitors came to pay their respects to the late maestro.

Álvarez Catalá’s funeral chapel was simple, lacking the opulence seen in the 1894 wake of Federico de Madrazo. Perhaps for this reason, the photographer chose not to capture the surrounding space of the coffin, instead focusing on the figure of the deceased himself, dressed in formal attire and bearing the insignia of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Order of Charles III, and the Legion of Honour on his lapel. Depicted from the waist up, with his head resting on a pillow and the signs of rigor mortis already visible on his face, this posthumous portrait—of which the Prado preserves several copies—renders one final homage to the Madrid-born artist.

Sánchez Torija, Beatriz, 'Autoría desconocida. Capilla ardiente de Luis Álvarez Catalá'. Arte y transformaciones sociales en España (1885-1910), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2024, p.260-262 nº161