Esteban Carlos Munràs (1798–1850) was a Spanish-born Californio artist, best known for his vibrantly colored frescoes that adorn the church at Mission San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel, California.[1]
Early life
editEsteban Carlos Munràs was born in Barcelona in 1798, to Salvador Munràs and Engràcia Estany.[2] Having studied art in his native Spain, Munràs immigrated to the Alta California as a young man, ultimately making his home in its capital, Monterey.
Munrás was a dealer in cattle hides and tallow, the products of his Rancho San Vicente. He built Casa Munrás, the first home to be constructed outside the walls of the El Presidio Reál de San Carlos de Monterey, where he established a thriving trading house attached to the family home. Munrás imported fine household furnishings and necessities to the earliest settlers in Monterey, California's first capital.[3]
His wife, Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás, was grantee of Rancho Laguna Seca and Rancho San Francisquito.
Career
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At the request of mission priest Father Juan Cabot, also a native of Barcelona, Munrás traveled to Mission San Miguel Arcángel, north of Paso Robles, in the early 1820s. Various religious-themed scenes (known as the "Munrás murals") were painted by the local Salinan Indians under Munrás' direction.[4]
His designs reflected the Neo-Classical tastes of the period, and the reredos (main altarpiece) reflects knowledge of an artist who had seen the fashionably decorated churches in Mexico of that era. The interior has remained untouched and has been preserved in its original state.[5]
Munrás died in 1850 in Monterey. His dying wish was for his wife Catalina Munrás to subdivide their Rancho San Vicente into a town.[6] She went on to found Soledad, California.
Personal life
editEsteban Munrás was married to Catalina Manzanelli y Ponce de León.[2] They had children including Concepción Munrás McKee.
References
edit- ^ Averbuck, Alexis; Bing, Alison; Brash, Celeste; Harrell, Ashley; Isalska, Anita; Leon, Megan; Tremaine, Julie; Berkmoes, Ryan Ver; Yanagihara, Wendy (November 2023). Travel Guide California. Lonely Planet. p. 517. ISBN 978-1-83758-243-3.
- ^ a b Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad - Marriage Records
- ^ "San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo Mission: The Munrás Family Heritage Museum". Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
- ^ The Munras Murals
- ^ Field, Maria Antonia (1914). Chimes of Mission Bells: An Historical Sketch of California and Her Missions. Philopolis Press, San Francisco, CA.
- ^ Soul of CA - Soledad