This is the first rough sketch prior to the definitive preparatory piece (now at the Diputación de Palencia) of the picture held by the Museo del Prado (P5728). It shows the king Ferdinand IV o [+]
This is a preparatory sketch for the canvas preserved at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (Les Frères de la mort dans la campagne de Rome, A 2975), which was presented by the artist at t [+]
The eldest son of King Juan II of Aragon and Queen Blanca of Navarre, Carlos de Viana was heir to both thrones, yet his father disowned him in favor of his other son, Fernando “The Catholic.” Because [+]
This is the most mature and refined of the numerous preparatory sketches that culminated in the final picture displayed in this room, which sealed its artist’s reputation. It is dedicated to the histo [+]
In 1814, Goya addressed the reagent, Cardinal Luis de Bourbon, offering to make works commemorating events from the War of Independence (1808-1812): "to perpetuate, with a paintbrush, the most notable [+]
A depiction of the execution of patriots from Madrid by a firing squad from Napoleon´s army in reprisal for their uprising against the French occupation on the second of May, 1808. The French soldiers [+]
This is the sketch for the first history painting to be awarded the top prize at the first National Fine Arts Exhibition in 1856, a work (P5726). This piece not only reveals compositional changes duri [+]
Padilla painted this, his absolute masterpiece, at the age of twenty-nine, and it directly led to his international fame as an artist. It is the most superb visual presentation of a subject with which [+]
Previously considered a preliminary study, this is in fact an unfinished, reduced-size replica of the painting and an exact reproduction of it. Gisbert had produced other smaller replicas of some of h [+]
This preparatory sketch for its artist’s most renowned history painting (P4262) shows the moment when the corpse of the favourite of John II of Castile is publicly displayed after his execution. Luna [+]
Seeing the cadaver of Empress Isabel of Portugal, the wife of Carlos V, has a profound effect on Francisco de Borja, Duke of Gandía, who almost collapses in front of one of his knights. The mel [+]
This is the sketch for the artist’s foremost painting, shown in this room. The importance of French models in his work is appreciable, particularly the influence of Thomas Couture, under whom he train [+]
Dying of love is a theme often drawn from legendary literature, and was recurrent in nineteenth-century Spanish painting. Beginning with the story Juan Yagüe found in the Archives of the Moot Hal [+]
Following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a storm swept the Spanish vessel Neptuno onto the rocks of the Castle of Santa Catalina in Puerto de Santa María, where the surviving crew members too [+]
The finest work of all Gisbert’s production, this impressive painting is also unarguably one of the most beautiful of all 19th-century Spanish history paintings. Moreover, it is one of the greatest po [+]
This scene represents an audience the Catholic Kings supposedly gave to the maximum representative of the Jews after they ordered the expulsion of his people. According to literary tradition, the inqu [+]
With this canvas painted in Paris, Casado del Alisal reached his own understanding of Velázquez, bringing a new realism to Spanish history painting. But here, rather than reflecting history pai [+]
This is a reduced-scale replica of the original in the Spanish Parliament, which is one of Spain’s most famous nineteenth-century history paintings. The subject is associated with the liberal cause an [+]