The 18th Century
The Museo del Prado has numerous works by the painters who worked for Philip V. They include the pair of mythological compositions by Michel-Ange Houasse entitled The Bacchanal and Offering to Bacchus, as well as Louis-Michel van Loos’ The Family of Philip V and Diana in a Landscape. Jean Ranc is represented by a group of works, of which the youthful portraits of Charles III and Ferdinand VI are particularly admirable.
The Prado also has a sizeable representation of the new type of portrait characteristic of the last years of Louis XIV’s reign, such as that of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud and María Ana Victoria de Borbón by Nicolas de Largillière.
The key artist in the introduction of the Rococo style, Antoine Watteau, is represented by two small canvases: Fête in a Park and The Marriage Contract.
