The Aranajassa chapel altarpiece

This altarpiece is the work of Pasqual Calbó i Caldés (1752-1817), the most important neoclassical painter in Menorca, a disciple of Giuseppe Chiesa Baratti. At the age of 18 he went to Italy to continue his apprenticeship, with stays in Rome and Venice; where he practiced drawing, perspective and, above all, copied the great teachers (Miguel 'ngel, Rafael, Guido Reni) and his contemporaries (Rafael Mengs, Corvi), in addition to enjoying a privileged pictorial training with the teachers Corvi and Vien. In 1778 he arrived in Vienna thanks to his protector, Prince Kaunitz Rietberg. A year later he was named Hoff-Dessinateur (Drawer of the Courts) by Empress Maria Theresa of Habsburg. In 1780, with a solid, humanist and illustrated training, he returned to Menorca, where he would make portraits of his family and different Menorcan characters. Also from this period is the altarpiece of the chapel of La Aranjassa, which was commissioned by the family of the merchant Llorenç Poly Rigway for his private chapel, located on the estate of La Aranjassa in the municipality of Es Mercadal. Like many important estates, La Aranjassa had a small chapel adjacent to the house, where the village priest officiated the mass on Sundays for the people of the house and its surroundings. Calbó designed it as false architecture: the central section shows an arcaded exadra with open arches eith pilasters, between which are five saints, patrons of the consignor's family: Eulalia (patron saint of his wife), Lawrence (the patron saint of the merchant), Gabriel (that of his son-in-law), John the Baptist (that of his granddaughter Joana, daughter of Margalida) and Margaret (thtat of his daughter, deceased in 1791). At theri feet are small angels with the palm branch, symbol of martyrdom, and Saint Lawrence symbol, the gridiron. The upper area lends an air of Baroque pomp with the garlands on the spandrets, the cartouches and volutes, and the flowered vases. On the upper level, the Virgin of the Angels (patron saint of his eldest daughter, Àngela), surrounded by clouds, angels and putti, reminders of the baroque heritage. This altarpiece is one of the most interesting pieces that is currently part of the Ateneu de Maó collection. It was donated on November 28, 1905 by the partner of the entity Mr. Federico Llansó Seguí. Once deposited in the Athenaeum, the chapel ceased to be used for religious worship and the new owner transforms it into a warehouse for animal food and a mill for wheat.