El Greco and Renaissance Painting. Early Naturalism
The Museo del Prado’s collection includes one of the great masterpieces of Spanish Renaissance painting, Saint Catherine by Fernando Yáñez, as well as one of the best known works of this period, Juan de Flandes’ The Last Supper. Other Spanish Renaissance artists well represented in the Museum are the Toledan painter Juan Correa de Vivar and Luis de Morales from Extremadura, particularly through his Virgin and Child compositions. Worth special mention is the group of Renaissance court portraits including images by Alonso Sánchez Coello and Juan Pantoja de la Cruz.
The most important artist in this section of the Museum’s collection is undoubtedly El Greco. The Prado owns two works painted in Italy, namely The Annunciation and The Flight into Egypt, as well as more than thirty painted in Spain. Among the latter is The Trinity from the altarpiece painted for Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo, one of the first works that El Greco executed after he moved to Toledo; the five great canvases from the Altarpiece of the Colegio de Doña María de Aragon; and the famous Knight with his hand on his Breast, along with a fine group of other portraits.
Among early naturalist works are outstanding paintings by Ribalta, Maino and Herrera the Elder. Also dating from this period are various important still lifes, such as Game Fowl, Fruit and Vegetables by Sánchez Cotán, and the group of works by Juan van der Hamen that was enriched in 2006 by the acquisition of the Naseiro Collection.
