Guillem Sagrera and lo modern de son temps

Guillem Sagrera (around 13801454) was a member of a powerful lodge of stonecutters from the south of Majorca. Documents show that he was in Perpignan between 1410 and 1420, where he established important professional contacts. From the capital of Roussillon, he exerted his influence in towns in the South seeking out construction sites that were stimulating for an innovative temperament like his. It is equally probable that he established relations with the dynamic and attractive courts of Burgundy and of the Berry. Through contact with them, he discovered an architecture rich in spatial innovations, techniques and stereotomy, which reflected the dukes'thirst for modernity. When he returned to Majorca (1420), he was entrusted with the office of master of the cathedral, and the challenge of the prestigious commission for the merchants'lodge. At the end of the 1440s, he gained the gratitude of the King Alphonse the Magnanimous, who summoned him to Naples in order to direct the transformation of the Castel Nuovo. The subtleties in the construction, the refined modenatures and the subtle stone apparatus which characterized his works reveal his personal culture open to exterior influences as well as his untiring curiosity to know and interpret lo modern de son temps.