The Council of State and the Museo del Prado

Thematic Route Map

1. Vecellio di Gregorio Tiziano,
   Emperor Charles V with a Dog
   ROOM 27
2. Pedro Pablo Rubens,
   Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma
   ROOM 28
3. Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez,
   Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, on Horseback
   ROOM 12
4. Juan Carreño de Miranda,
   The Duke of Pastrana
   ROOM 16 A
5. Jacopo Amigoni,
   The Marquis of la Ensenada
   ROOM 23
6. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes,
   José Moñino, First Count of Floridablanca
   ROOM 35
7. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes,
   Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
   ROOM 36

8. Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz,
   Francisco Martínez de la Rosa
   ROOM 61
9. Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz,
   Ángel Saavedra, Duke of Rivas
   ROOM 61
10. Autoría desconocida,
    Pedro de Madrazo in his Studio
    ROOM 61
11. Antonio María Esquivel y Suárez de Urbina,
    Contemporary Poets. A Reading by Zorrilla in the Painter’s Studio
    ROOM 61
12. José Gutiérrez de la Vega y Bocanegra,
    Manuel de Seijas Lozano, Minister of Trade, Education and Public Works
    ROOM 61
13. Juan Luna y Novicio,
    Víctor Balaguer
    ROOM 60 A

THE EXHIBITION

To mark the 500th anniversary of the Council of State, the Museo del Prado – working closely with the Council itself – has drawn up an itinerary comprising portraits of several Councillors of State currently on show in its galleries. The survey also provides an overview of the changing approach to portraiture as a genre, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, starting with a likeness of Emperor Charles V – the Council’s founder – by his leading portrait painter, Titian. Nowhere is the Baroque court portrait better epitomised than in the likeness of the Duke of Lerma painted by Peter Paul Rubens or in Velázquez’s portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares; in both cases, the protagonists are depicted on horseback, thus conveying the authority conferred upon them by their status as the kings’ favourites. This opening section highlights the convergence of the three major schools represented in the Prado: the Venetian and Flemish schools, and the Spanish school which was influenced by both. A good example is Juan Carreño de Miranda’s portrait of the Duke of Pastrana, with its clear echoes of Anthony van Dyck.

The 18th-century Enlightenment is represented by three portraits. The likeness of the Marquis of La Ensenada is by the Italian painter Jacopo Amiconi, the leading portrait artist in the reign of Ferdinand VI. The portraits of the Count of Floridablanca and Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, both by Francisco de Goya, demonstrate his mastery of the genre in the 1780s and 1790s; Goya’s rendering of Jovellanos, skilfully conveying a sense of the sitter’s melancholy, pioneered a new approach to portraying the modern intellectual in Spain. 

A key aspect of Antonio María Esquivel’s oeuvre during the Spanish Romantic period was his focus on group portraits, which – though popular in Britain and France – were uncommon in Spain at that time. Contemporary Poets. A Reading by Zorrilla in the Painter’s Studio brings together – with quite a natural air – a whole cast of Spanish writers of the time. Many were also politicians; Francisco Martínez de la Rosa, Angel Saavedra, Duke of Rivas (shown in a portrait), Joaquín Francisco Pacheco, Ramón de Campoamor, Javier de Burgos and Pedro de Madrazo were all members of the Council of State. The first two also sat for lithograph portraits – a technique which flourished in the mid-18th century – by  another leading Spanish Romantic portraitist, Federico de Madrazo, executed with characteristic elegance of line. Madrazo’s brother Pedro was also captured, in his later years, using a medium which was to become even more significant: photography. The seated portrait of Manuel de Seijas by José Gutiérrez de la Vega – a Sevillian, like Esquivel – is a good example of the ministerial painting typical of the period. The round portrait of Victor Balaguer, Overseas Minister, by the Filipino artist Juan Luna has been placed high up, as it was in the location for which it was painted, the Overseas Museum-Library.