The painting became part of the collection of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya,[1] and it is on permanent display in the Girona in an auditorium of the Catalan Government building.

Martí Alsina wanted to improve his reputation as a painter on a national level, despite the fact that he was already a lecturer at the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona.

In 1667, André Felibien, historian and theoretician of French Classicism, created a hierarchy of pictorial themes and ranked historical paintings in first place.

[2] Later the same year, he presented a work entitled "L’últim dia de Numància" ("The Last Days of Numantia") outside of the competition, which was later purchased by the state for 3,000 pesetas and given to the Prado Museum.

Some of these sketches are currently held in private collections while others are stored in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) and the Museum of Art Girona.

The letter was a response to information solicited by the artist regarding flags and other details that would be included in the work; the painter wished the final result to be as realistic as possible.

Personal documents confirm that Martí Alsina used The Great Day of Girona to guarantee a debt of 20,000 pesetas that he owed to Pau Borrell.

[9] An article published during that time in El Divulio claims that Martí Alsina subsequently attempted to sell the work to the City Council of Barcelona for a sum of 15,000 pesetas.

The origin of the title is believed to be Colonel Blas de Fournàs, who described the events of 19 September 1809 (during which over 1,000 people died) as "the great day of Girona."

Actualmente, debido a las obras que se están desarrollando en este edificio, no es conveniente su presencia allí, por lo cual pide a la junta que determine que conviene hacer.In 1905, Font i Sangrà reclaimed the painting and, due to its dimensions, decided to hang it in a chapel (specially extended for the occasion) on his personal property in Cardadeu, Ca n’Eres Vall.

While he kept the bulk of his personal collection at his home (38 Ronda de Sant Pere), The Great Day of Girona became somewhat of a tourist attraction in Cardadeu, as Font i Sagrà took pleasure in showing the work to all who came to see it.

In 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, the Palace of Fine Arts was used as a location for meetings and conferences, and that summer, the glass building was the victim of a bombardment that destroyed its roof.

The examination included a study of both the front and back of the canvas, macroscopic and microscopic observations of the materials, and samples were taken in order to carry out various physical and chemical analysis of the painting.

Research regarding the reserves of the museum and works by artists of the same period was conducted in order to make relevant comparisons to the state of The Great Day of Girona.

Due to the peculiarity of the great dimensions of the work, it was saved from more invasive restoration procedures such as relining or general varnishing, techniques that were common artwork conservation practices at the time.

During the restoration, a first-of-its kind in Catalan history due to its scale, Martí Alsina’s manuscripts and images of the painting (before its damage in 1938), were used as references.

To ensure correct handling, Chassitech construction company was hired to create a metallic structure (a double-railed anodized aluminum frame with wooden profiles) designed to facilitate future maintenance.

The staff at the Museum of Art, Girona, assumed responsibility for the climate control of the painting's new environment and ensured that its lighting levels did not exceed 150–200 lux.

The work portrays the aftermath of a battle that took place on 19 September 1809, during a 7-month siege of the city of Girona by the invading French army during the Peninsular War.

Although stylistically Martí Alsina is commonly compared to Courbet and realism (a movement which the painter introduced to Catalonia), The Great Day of Girona is closer to Romanticism.

Both artists produced a great quantity of preliminary sketches from different perspectives to effectively depict a mass of figures within their final works.

The group of figures situated in the left-hand side is formed by the last line of defenders of the city, with General Alvarez de Castro prominently portrayed.

In the bottom section of The Great Day of Girona, or the foreground of the battle, the wounded and dead are depicted, employing maximum realism for the most dramatic images.