The little girl is the portrait of a girl, which has an equivalent in the extraordinary portrait “The little girl and the good companion”, from 1891, owned by the Museum of Montserrat which came from the Josep Sala i Ardiz collection.
The composition in this oil painting on a very special support, a ceramic plate, is simple and structured within the diameter that makes up the plate. The child’s face is finely drawn, the look very expressive and cheerful. The painter uses a sober color range, the brushstrokes are short and the color temperature is clear and luminous, with earthy and gray colors on which the white and blurred background stand out. The brushstrokes are short, the touches of light on the face are done with the precision and care of a master’s flesh.
The representation of the child on a round support develops a new treatment of the subject, of the clarity and expression of space. The present piece is a unique specimen, possibly the only work painted by the artist on a ceramic mat. The girl portrait depicted in this portrait appears to be the artist’s own daughter. Aurelia, four or five years old, which would be the age she would have been in 1896.