He was an artist who worked in various fields of the decorative arts: drawing, illustration, poster design, engraving and literature.

Born into a noble family (he was the son of the marquis of Benavent and count of Casa Dàvalos), he received his early education in France. He began studying mechanical engineering, but gave that up to attend La Llotja, the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, where he was a student of the painter Antoni Caba. When he finished his course in 1879, he went to Rome.

His early posters and illustrations displayed a rather realistic approach, albeit within a poetic idiom. He presented several of his paintings at the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 and shortly afterwards set up his own studio in Barcelona.

He spent brief periods in Paris and in London, where he came into contact with the world of the Pre-Raphaelites and acquired a better knowledge of the art of William Morris and the whole Arts and Crafts movement, centred on reclaiming the decorative arts, which had an enormous influence on him. Upon his return in 1894 he introduced into Catalonia an aestheticist trend based on this English current with its taste for the symbolic female figure and a great deal of floral ornamentation. He applied this new aesthetic to all the artistic spheres in which he worked. From then on he renewed the field of bookplate design, stood out in the domain of advertising posters and produced designs for the most prestigious artisans and companies of the moment, such as Casa Escofet, A. Rigalt, G. Homar, etc.

He also worked on stained glass windows -he held an exhibition at Sala Parés of the windows he had designed for the Grau Anglada chemist's shop (1900; no longer in existence), which was very popular with the public- and interior decoration, such as the ceiling and other wooden panel work in the office of the Cercle del Liceu (1900; Gran Teatre del Liceu, Rambla, 51-59).

A multifaceted and restless person, he also put his hand to jewellery. Indeed he had done part of his training in the Masrieras's workshop (see L. Masriera) when it was run by Josep Masriera.

During the last years of his life he settled in Majorca and devoted himself intensely to painting, particularly doing landscapes of the island.

He contributed to several publications of the period, such as the magazine Luz, as an illustrator but also as a disseminator of his theories about artistic creation and the role of the decorative arts and crafts. He also wrote Symbolist poetry.