Accion de la Real comp. De Comercio Establecida en Barcelona

Title

Accion de la Real comp. De Comercio Establecida en Barcelona

Description

Printed on Vellum, with manuscript additions, and company seal; the additions are signatures of the various directors and details concerning the sale of the share certificate. Minor soiling, but quite nice for a view printed on vellum. A magnificent view of Barcelona, engraved on vellum, by the prominent Catalan artist Manuel Tramullas, illustrating a share certificate for the Royal Trading Company of Barcelona, issued in 1756. This beautiful work features a panorama of Barcelona, framed in a fine architectural border, surmounted by a picture of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, who symbolically protect the city. In the view, one can see the spires of the Barcelona’s Gothic cathedral, the city’s elaborate defenses, including the fortress atop Montjuïc. Below is a fine register of text surrounded by rococo border, with the terms of the issue of the stock certificate. It was engraved on vellum in order to confer its durability and lend its added gravitas. This share certificate was especially engraved for holders of the inaugural shares of the Real Compañía de Comercio Establecido de Barcelona

ca. 1756

Artist

Tramullas I Roig (1715-1791)

Manuel Tramulles (or Tramullas) i Roig (Barcelona, 1715 - 1791) was a Catalan painter and engraver of the 18th century. Its main merit is that it reflects with great mastery and simplicity (as in some of the serious contemporaries in Francisco de Goya) the affluent life of civil society. His works have a distinctive character between Baroque and Rococo, typical of a period of relative stability in Spain. For King Carles III. From Borbó, he painted the complete Carles III in 1770. Property of the Canongia of Barcelona, which belonged to the Comte de Barcelona (Diocesan Museum of the Cathedral of Barcelona).

Historical Description

The Pyrenean region has always been a preferred transit area for culture and trade between the Near East and the British Isles. In the course of the wars between the Frankish Empire and the Arabs, several counties were created at the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century in the northern part of Catalonia, which today belongs to Spain, and in northern Catalonia, which today belongs to France. At first, these counties were under the control of the West Frankish or French king, but in the course of the following centuries they became increasingly independent. As a result of the marriage contract between Raimund Berengar IV, Count of Barcelona, and Petronila/Peronella, heiress to the Crown of Aragon, who was only one year old, a state community known as the Crown of Aragon was created in 1137 from Aragon and the lands of the Counts of Barcelona, which were largely identical to Catalonia in the 12th century. The Franco-Spanish War of 1635-1659 saw separatist movements in Spain. In 1640, Portugal successfully regained its independence. Catalonia also tried to regain its former independence, but was not successful in it. In the Peace of the Pyrenees, Spain had to cede the Catalan territories north of the Pyrenees to France, while the rest of Catalonia remained with Spain. In the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1713), which was about the succession to the throne after the death of Charles II, who remained childless, most Catalans supported the Habsburg pretender to the throne, Archduke Charles, against the Bourbon Philip of Anjou. Between 1812 and 1814, Catalonia was part of the French Empire and was divided first into four and later into two French départements. In the Second Republic, Catalonia was initially granted provisional autonomy in 1931 with the re-establishment of the Generalitat; this was codified in the Statute of Autonomy of 1932. Because of its historical, linguistic and cultural differences from the rest of Spain, Catalonia sees itself as a separate nation. The term nation is understood in the sense of a cultural nation and is not defined by ethnic affiliation.