The original pencil drawing or remarque on this frontispiece is of 4 figures. The dominant figure is on the far left and seems to be a male figure. He has the most detail of all 4 figures. As usual Alvar takes the viewer to his own imaginary location, where people still dress in those renaissance costumes. He is reaching with his right hand and touching the face of one of the female figures, to his right, which appears to be the least evolved of all 4 figures. The female figure on the top seems to have stretched out her arm and is holding a basket of fruit...will it fall? The female figure on the bottom has her hand to her throat, as if in astonishment of what is occurring above her.

Sunol Alvar was born on January 20, 1935 in Mongat, a Catalan fishing village on the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain. At age 18, he won the “Alhambra de Granada” grant, a summer scholarship that allowed him to travel and paint throughout Spain. Alvar returned home and entered a painting in competition for the Young Painter’s Prize sponsored by the City of Barcelona. He won the Grand Prize and the painting was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona for its permanent collection.

In 1957, at age 22, Alvar gave his first one-man show at the Galleries Layetana in Barcelona. He entered one of his canvasses for the annual painting competition at the French Institute of Barcelona. He again won the Grand Prize, and with it a study trip to Paris. Alvar arrived in Paris to paint in 1959. He met Juan Fuentes, a fellow Spaniard and director of the prestigious Gallery Drouant. Fuentes brought Alvar’s first group of Paris oil paintings to the gallery. All of the paintings sold in one week. He was subsequently invited to join the celebrated “School of Paris,” a group of the top young artists in Paris, organized by the distinguished Charpentier Gallery.