According to Ovid, the marriage of Hippodamia to Pirithous sparked a mythical battle between their kinsmen, the lapiths and the centaurs. This theme appealed to artists as symbolising the battle between the passions and the intellect. Tegeo echoed the classicism of the Bolognese School in this painting, regarded as his finest neoclassical composition. It belonged to the Prince of Anglona, the seco
María Tomasa Palafox (1780-1835), Marchioness of Villafranca, is shown wearing a white empire-style dress and sitting on a red silk damask armchair, with her feet on a cushion. She is painting a portrait of her husband, Francisco de Borja Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga, XI Marquis of Villafranca. The Marchioness received an enlightened education from her mother, the Countess of Montijo.
The hero of Republican Rome, Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus had abandoned public life and retired to farm work. This painting depicts the moment when various representatives of the Senate offer to name him dictator. Ribera chooses the exact moment when the senators hand the purple robes, symbolizing power, to Cincinnatus, who has just stopped plowing. The correct drawing and perfect modeling of the
This preparatory sketch for the ceiling of Charles III’s former bedroom at the Royal Palace in Madrid depicts the Institution of the Order of Charles III following the birth of the King’s first male grandchild. A personification of Monarchy holds the newborn Infante in its arms, and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the Order, is depicted at the centre of the composition.
This wedding portrait by Vicente López depicts Ferdinand VII’s fourth and final wife, his niece Maria Cristina. All three of his previous spouses, María Antonia of Bourbon (1784-1806), María Isabel of Braganza (1797-1818) and María Josefa Amalia of Saxony (1805-1829), had died without offspring.The more than half-length likeness shows her at the age of twenty-four in a
The decoration of the Queen’s Casino included two series of similar format and style alluding to cycles of time, painted by José de Madrazo and Juan Antonio de Ribera. These allegories of the Hours of the Day and the Four Seasons took the form of delicate female figures in flight, accompanied by putti who hold their respective attributes.
The allegories, The Hours of the Day, were painted in 1819 by José de Madrazo in Rome just before his return to Spain, to be used in the decoration of the small palace in Madrid known as Casino de la Reina. This country holding, considered one of “the most prized curiosities of Madrid”, was acquired in 1816 by the city government of Madrid as a gift for Queen María Isabel of Braganza
This portrait of Félix Máximo López Crespo (1742 - 1821), the first organist of the Royal Chapel and a notable musician and composer, was commissioned by his eldest son, Ambrosio López. A formal work that emphasizes the sitter´s category through a series of details, especially the red and blue uniform of his job at the palace, the braid on the cuffs of his dress coat th
Madrazo would have presented this preliminary study to the king for approval before painting the final version, which is also in the Prado (P3295). For many years the large-scale definitive version was the only painting of Ferdinand displayed to the public in the museum he had founded. He is shown as commander-in-chief of the Spanish armed forces beside an oak tree that refers to the virtues of th
A preparatory sketch for the final picture, which is preserved in the Prado’s collection and was probably commissioned for the Museum itself. It commemorates the involvement of this queen of Portuguese origin in the refurbishment of the Real Museo de Pinturas, and shows her approving proposals for the layout of its Galleries.
Apollo holds a lyre and in keeping with Praxitelean ideals adopts an elegant contraposto pose. The original version was commissioned by Antonio Canova to decorate the Real Casa del Labrador at Aranjuez, but during the Pensinsula War Álvarez Cubero was forced to sell it in order to survive. He later made this second version, which he never completed.
Like Cubero’s Apollino (E00805), this sculpture of the young Mercury bearing his caduceus, inspired by the Doryphoros of Polykleitos, was intended for the statue gallery at the Real Casa del Labrador at Aranjuez, and was commissioned by the great Neoclassical sculptor Canova. Other Spanish sculptors working in Rome -Álvarez Cubero, Solá and Campeny- were also involved in the project,
Marcela de Valencia y Codallos, condesa de Casa Valencia, nació en Madrid, no en Colombia, como se creía pues allí vivieron sus padres, Francisco de Valencia y Sáenz del Pontón, conde de casa Valencia, y María Josefa Codallos. Igual que algunas otras damas de la nobleza española, como la marquesa de Santa Cruz, la autora cultivó la miniatura. En 1805 presentó a examen en la Real Academia de Bellas
Busto prolongado, con el cuerpo hacia la izquierda y la cabeza de frente, vuelta hacia la derecha, mirando al espectador. Tiene el cabello castaño con ricitos en la frente y pañuelo blanco colocado en forma de turbante y anudado delante. Viste traje blanco con amplio escote redondo fruncido y chal de seda de tono vinoso con pliegues, collar de perlas. Fondo de matices grises castaño. La sencillez
La dama retratada aparece como Pomona, diosa de la fruta, de los árboles frutales, los jardines y huertos de la mitología romana que también se asocia a la alegoría de la Abundancia. Esta iconografía, de "patrona pomorum", es frecuente en las obras de los pintores franceses del siglo XVIII como Jean-Antoine Watteau, François Lemoyne o François Boucher. El trabajo de Lefévre en este retrato es magn
Estupendo retrato realizado según la estética francesa seguida por la mayoría de los miniaturistas portugueses. Fue pintado en 1828, en los primeros años de actividad de Primavera como miniaturista, técnica que pudo aprender de su maestro Faustino José Rodríguez. Primavera, junto a José de Almeida Furtado (1778-1831), activo durante algunos años en Salamanca, Eduardo Lobo de Moura (1817-1887), Ant
A pesar de su actividad como retratista en miniaturas, pocas son las piezas conocidas de este autor. Las pinturas de asunto mitológico y los paisajes, en la línea de su maestro Haes, son lo más conocido de su producción. A la vista de este retrato, su dominio de la técnica de la miniatura es indudable.
El tamaño del rostro, que ocupa casi la totalidad de la superficie, la profundidad de la mirada, la expresividad, el gesto altivo, la severidad en el tratamiento del color y un dominio insuperable de la técnica, son constantes en las obras de Ducker y le convierten en uno de los mejores miniaturistas activos en Madrid a comienzos del XIX. Esta miniatura y el retrato del señor Viado, conservado en