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 and depicts the execution of the heroes of the War of the Communities of Castile after they rose up against royal power and were defeated at Villalar, Valladolid, in 1521.
Jerónimo Vich y Valterra (1459-1535) was Spain’s ambassador to Rome between 1506 and 1521, under the reigns of Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles V. Vich commissioned Sebastiano del Piombo to paint a triptych whose central panel with the Lamentation over the Body of Christ is now at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. One of its sides bears Christ’s Descent into Limbo and is also at t
This portrait is one of Dürer’s great creations. It offers a three-quarters view of an unidentified person who occupies most of the canvas. Dürer places him in front of a dark background that bears some touches of blue. The light enters from the left, bringing out the features of the face and hands and projecting the sitter’s shadow onto the background at the right, where the date and th
The position of the figures, looking at each other, is common for diptych paintings. However, we do not know if these were originally painted as pendants to each other. In 1597, this panel and Virgin Mary (P1562) were described in the Escorial as two “doors” of the same object. They may have been acquired as separate paintings and then hinged together as a diptych in the Royal Collection. Some sch
The presence in Valencia in 1521 of several works by Sebastiano del Piombo, acquired by the diplomat Jerónimo Vich, inspired various generations of local artists. In this oil on panel recently attributed to Ribalta, the artist adapted the figure of the Magdalene from one of those compositions, The Lamentation over the dead Christ, now in Saint Petersburg. As he dispensed with the other figu
Francisco Fernández de Córdoba wears a biretta and ecclesiastical robes. He was the son of the second Count of Cabra and of Doña María Hurtado de Mendoza-Luna. He was the Bishop of Oviedo from 1526 and of Palencia from 1536, and died in 1539. Some verses in Latin identify the sitter and the painter who was “inspector” of Ferdinand the Catholic’s painters. The frame is o
Having trained in Venice, probably with Giovanni Bellini, Lorenzo Lotto worked in Treviso (1503-1506), Recanati (1506- 1508) and Rome (c. 1508-1510) before settling in Bergamo.There, between 1513 and 1526, he painted for influential families such as the Tassi, Bonghi, Brembati and Cassotti.The Cassotti, wealthy textile merchants originating from Valle Imagna, used the arts to demonstrate their soc
A more than half-length image of the Virgin over a gold background. She holds the Christ Child while two angels crown her as Queen of Heaven. The thistles the Christ Child plays with are a clear allusion to the crown of thorns and the Passion of Christ. The Virgin´s thoughtful mien, gazing at her son with a presentiment of his destiny, gives the painting a melancholy air. The gold background was u
On the diptych’s left door, Mor portrays Alexander Farnese’s mother, who was Charles V’s illegitimate daughter by Juana van der Gheyst. Born in Audenarde in 1521, she died in Ortonna in 1586 after marrying twice in the emperor’s interest. Her first husband was Alexander of Medici, and after his death, she married Octavius Farnese, Duke of Parma. Following her second husband’s death, she was appoin
Wearing a white tunic and bearing the standard of victory, Christ leans toward Adam and Eve who, nude, hope to be rescued from Limbo and taken to the Kingdom of Heaven. This passage appears in the Apocrypha, specifically in the Gospel of Nicodemus, which tells of the Resurrection of Christ. The painting's composition reveals two fundamental influences: Michelangelo, in the monumentality of the fig
The Virgin is crowned in the heavens by God the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit, depicted in the form of a dove with its wings outstretched. Around them are grouped thirty-three saints of a type characteristic of Masip, all witnessing this glorious event. The small format, meticulous execution and use of gold for some details make this panel an exceptional work. It was acquired by King Ferdinan
The painting played a major role in the rediscovery of Marinus’ work, in particular its relation to the production of Albrecht Dürer. It carries the date of 1521, the year that Dürer visited Antwerp and painted a Saint Jerome for Rui (Rodrigo) Fernandes de Almada, now in Lisbon (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, inv. 828). Although it was suspected early on that the signature and date must
A former owner of this impressive drawing believed it to be from the hand of the Bolognese painter Bartolomeo Bagnacavallo, who, according to Vasari, travelled to Rome together with Biagio Pupini (active between 1511 and 1551) when Raphael was active there, from 1508 to 1520. The precise nature of Bartolomeo´s association with Raphael remains elusive: he is often referred to as his pupil, as in th
This is without a doubt one of the finest drawings done in Italy during the sixteenth century from the Prado´s collection. Peter Candid, the artist responsible, was not however Italian by birth but Netherlandish. Nevertheless, the study was made early on in his Italian period, and for stylistic and formal reasons belongs in the context of Italian drawing. The drawing once belonged to P.-J. Mariett
In this life-size bust the Emperor Charles V is shown wearing the emblem of the Golden Fleece. His suit of armour, of the “fleur-de-lys volutes” type, was made around 1521 by the Augsburg armourer Kolman Helmschmid. Charles was seen wearing it in Titian’s portrait of around 1531, a composition that Montorsoli may have known.