Francesc Cambó i Batlle (Catalan pronunciation: [fɾənˈsɛsk kəmˈbo]; 2 September 1876 – 30 April 1947) was a conservative Spanish politician from Catalonia, founder and leader of the autonomist party Lliga Regionalista.

Francesc (Francisco de Asís) Cambó y Batlle, as his full name was, was born in Verges in the comarca of Baix Empordà, Catalonia, Spain.

In 1901 he founded a new political party, the Lliga Regionalista de Catalunya,[2] being elected that same year as municipal councilor in the city of Barcelona.

At that time, a speech pronounced before King Alfonso XIII in official visit in Barcelona, in which Cambó defended the need of a solution to the "Catalan problem" but "in Spain" and, of course, within the monarchy" unleashed the wrath of his party rivals, (as well described in the movie "The burned city").

Strongly criticized by the more nationalistic and radical sectors - he had survived a shooting by a gunman during the 1907 election campaign-, the project ended up failing at the ballot box in 1908.

“You cannot be at the same time Catalonia’s Simon Bolívar and Spain’s Bismarck”, he was famously told once during a parliamentary debate by Nicelo Alcalá Zamora on December 10, 1918.

Francesc Cambó never returned to live in Spain after the Civil War, which he passed in exile with his family in Paris and Montreux (Switzerland).

From that moment on, while using part of that money to live by very high standards, he became one of the most important art private collectors and cultural donors in the history of his country.