2023-06-02 20:59:04
How the wealthy families of the Empordà lived between the 19th and 20th centurieshow they rose socially, how they related or what strategies they used to preserve heritage are some of the questions that more than one has asked at one time and which, now, can be better answered thanks to the exhibition The portraits of the gentlemen, created by the Municipal Archive of Castelló d’Empúries starting from the Negre Pastel photographic collection that they keep and which they have digitized. For the archivist Marisa Roig, it is clear that this fund “is a treasure” and that “the Negre Pastell represent the prototype of a wealthy family from Girona”.
Give shape to this exhibition, which opens on Saturday 10 June at the Ecomuseu-Farinera in Castelló d’Empúries and which can be seen until August 27, it has not been an easy task. The archive team has selected more than ninety photographs, out of the fifteen hundred that make up the fund of the collection, and these are presented nourishing the three areas into which the exhibition has been divided. The first has been dedicated to the family and extends from 1860, with the oldest photograph of Salvador Negre Vancells, to 1957 with the last heir, Pelai Negre Pastell. Roig comments that it’s been like putting a puzzle back together: these characters “related and married each other” and the life paths and, of course, the surnames ended up intertwining.
However, they have been able to elaborate, with great care and based on intense research, several family trees: from the main trunk to those of the closest relatives which were part of “collateral branches”. This deep immersion has made it possible to verify that these families moved strategically: “They had many children, but many died young” and those who survived “remained single except for one, who was the one who continued the line” with the aim of not falling apart, ” try to hoard and accumulate wealth”.
Portraits of important studies
Among the images that are preserved, they stand out many portraits of important studies such as Napoleón or Unal, both from the main line, as well as from close relatives, from friendship circles, but also from kings, monarchs and, even, from the maids of the house and matrons. Roig corroborates that “photographs were a symbol of prestige among the wealthy classes” and served as a business card, since they were taken many copies of the same portrait and were exchanged between close friendships. This explains why the same image is located in other backgrounds. Also in this, Girona characters emerge as a result of this relationship. It is worth saying that not all the people who appear there have been able to be identified. Nevertheless, strings have been pulled, “people have been spoken to” to get as many names as possible.
There are photographs that were not from the studio. They are from trips, meeting friends, some are busy. Roig believes that they were probably made by someone in the family and, quite possibly, Enric Negre, Pelai’s father. In fact, in an image from the beginning of the century, Pelai is seen with his sisters holding the casing of a photo machine.
The second area of the exhibition will allow the visitor grasp the level of the family by diving into its properties and heritage: the houses, in Castelló – the Casa Gran, Casa Negre, among others – and Girona, also in Santa Coloma, Fornells and Peralada. The archivist confirms that “they were very important owners”. It must be said that the Negres were originally apothecaries, settled since the 18th century, while the Pastels were notaries and doctors of law. Representatives of both branches dedicated themselves “to the political and associative life of Girona”. The third area is dedicated to summer holidays and excursions. This is how they are seen when they went to Can Secundino beach in Castelló, with relatives in Torroella de Montgrí, and also collects postcards they sent from the places they visited.
All this research work, as well as the portraits of the exhibition and a few more photographs of the background, will be reproduced in a book-catalog that will accompany the exhibition designed by Juli Sanjuan. The volume will include texts to contextualize, explain the background and its time. Moreover, the search does not end here. We want to clarify the relationship that the Negre Pastells had with other wealthy people of the time, such as the Rosés of Girona, and that the photographs testify faithfully. A good tool will be to delve deeper, something they are already doing, into the documentary collection of the family preserved by the Municipal Archives of Girona.
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