54. 54AR MIGUEL BERROCAL (1933-2006) Berenguer de Entenza/ Almogávar VI (Opus 255) 1981-83 17 items Stamp with Berrocal signature Edition 3/6 Lost wax cast bronze, patina 1 Wooden model on a solid cast steel anvil (I/I) 76 x 105 x 43 cm Provenance Private collection, Brussels Bibliography Antologica Berrocal (1955-1984), Julián Gállego, Franco Passoni, Miguel Berrocal. Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, Ediciones "El Viso", Madrid, 1984. pp. 118-119, 210-211 , 424, 427, 466. General Chronological Catalogue (sculptures 1955-1984), Monograph. Spagna 75 anni di protagonisti nell'arte. Lugano and Edizioni Electa spa, Milano, 1986, Página 121 (I/I) Collective exhibition catalogue. Berrocal , Torsi, sculture, pitture, disegni. Amministrazione Provinciale di Udine, Assesorato alla Cultura, Con il contributo del Comune di Tavagnacco, Udine, 1987. Pages Cover, 84-85. Miguel Berrocal Skulpturen, Die Galerie Gesellschaft für Kunsthandel mbH, Offenbach am Main, 1987. Pages Dust jacket and cover, 6 (colour ill. of a bronze). Personal exhibition catalogue, Monograph. We would like to thank the Berrocal Foundation for the information it kindly provided on this work. Two decisive discoveries guided the sculptor's approach in the creation of these ten major works, each of which asserts its identity by evoking the destiny and exploits of a war leader. The first was the discovery of an object that would serve as a base for each of the torsos, composed and assembled in different ways. Visiting the artisanal forges of our Ardennes region with a friend, Jean Delogne, who has made a name for himself well beyond our borders in the field of garden architecture, he was struck by the beauty and plastic presence of some old anvils that had been used to beat iron for many decades. They managed to acquire them and share them, and Berrocal decided to incorporate those that best suited his project into the works he was about to begin. This one would illustrate the second discovery, a chronicle that originated in the province of Aragon. Historical reality sometimes surpasses the fiction of legend, or at least matches it... ...The anvil, along with the hammer, bears the imprint of the will of the sculptor and blacksmith. Here, like a motto at the centre of the double-hammered work, it bears the war cry of the conquerors "desperta ferro" (iron, wake up!). Jean Dypréau, Le Moulin Rose, October 1983 Introductory text published in the exhibition catalogue: Berrocal, Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, 18 January - 25 February 1984, Brussels.