Born in Gerona, Catalanya, in northeast Spain, Tomas Moragas y Torras is recognized as one of Spain's major artists. He apprenticed with silversmith and medalist Josep Pomar I Llaro, who enabled him to study at Barcelona's Escola de Belles Artes, from which he graduated in 1850. At the urging of his friend and mentor, the painter Mariano Fortuny, he went to Italy in 1857 and lived in Rome for fourteen years. There he continued his studies while painting portraits, figures, and landscapes. Upon his return to Barcelona in 1876 he and a group of other artists established the Taller Embut, a center for the study of watercolor painting and other arts. (Taller Embut became the Instituto de Catalanya in 1870.) With Moragas as president, the new c...