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In the past various authors have expressed their scepticism about the attribution of the painting to Rembrandt. However, the Rembrandt Research Project includes it in the Corpus of 1986 as an original work, and this is supported by the technical study conducted at the Museo del Prado that year. As for the signature, the unsteadiness of the stroke and, above all, the yellow colour make it dubious.
La infanta Catalina Micaela fue la menor de las dos hijas habidas en el matrimonio del rey Felipe II con su tercera esposa, Isabel de Valois. Nació en Madrid en 1567. Junto a su hermana mayor, Isabel Clara Eugenia, ocupó un lugar preferente en los sentimientos del rey, su padre, como denotan sus relaciones epistolares. Como Infanta de España, tenía reservado además un puesto preciso en la política
This work belongs to the so-called peasant interiors, one of the new genres of painting that emerged and developed in Flanders and Holland in the early seventeenth century. In Houbraken and in early inventories they are described as een boertje, (a little peasant), or as toeback rookerchen, (tobacco smokers). The consolidation and appreciation of this genre was fostered by the satirical and morali
Found on the beach at Denia (Valencia) on 28 August 1597, this leatherback sea turtle was depicted in a painting in order to record its unexplected appearance on the Mediterranean coast. The painting includes a lengthy explanatory text that reflects the scientific importance of this find.
At the top, a nude Christ bears a white banner in his left hand, symbolizing triumph over death. His purple robe signifies sacrifice and martyrdom, while his rhomboidal halo echoes the Byzantine tradition. The soldiers that guard the sepulcher appear surprised and confused by the event, except for one who is asleep. The use of scorcio gives these figures a high degree of dynamism. The borders of t
A passage from the New Testament (Luke I, 26-38) that tells of the annunciation of the Virgin´s motherhood by the Archangel Gabriel and the incarnation of Christ in Mary by the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove. The burning bush, which appeared to A passage from the New Testament (Luke I, 26-38) that tells of the annunciation of the Virgin´s motherhood by the Archangel Gabriel and the incarnation o
This evangelical episode is divided into two overlapping horizontal zones joined by the dove, which symbolizes the Holy Ghost. On the earthly plane, Christ, nude but for his loincloth, is framed by a red cloak, which is the liturgical color of sacrifice and martyrdom. On the right, Saint John the Baptist appears. He wears a camel skin and, next to him, there is an axe in a tree trunk, which allude
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
This night scene is set in a narrow, irregular space -a sort of grotto with a gabled opening in the back, consisting of two semi-circular arches. Mary holds her newborn Son, naked on her lap, while Saint Joseph and three shepherds surround them, expressing their fervent devotion to the child. A kneeling ox also contemplates the baby. The compositional ellipse is closed at the top by a group of ang
This painting has recently been identified as a work by Pietro Novelli, known as Il Monrealese on account of his having been born in Monreale, Sicily. It was considered until 1933 to be the work of Neapolitan painter Andrea Vaccaro, and after that time its authorship was demoted to Anonymous Neapolitan by the Museo del Prado. The painting passed largely unnoticed on account of its being on long-te
Philip II’s two daughters Isabel Clara Eugenia (1566-1633) and Catalina Micaela (1567-1597), were repeatedly portrayed from the time they were very small by Alonso Sánchez Coello, one of the king’s court painters. Those likenesses had the characteristics of court portraits, reflecting not only the sitters’ features and their royal context, but also the type of society and state being depict
Two Cows in a Meadow is one of Paulus Potter`s characteristic cabinet paintings featuring domestic animals, which were generally much more accomplished than his large compositions. They may be interpreted as a transposition to the Dutch countryside of the Roman rural landscapes with animals of Pieter van Laer, il Bamboccio (ca. 1592-1642). Hofstede de Groot does not mention this painting. Walsh (1
A slightly more than half-length image of Jesus wearing a red tunic and blue robes. Holding the cross with both hands, he rests it on his left shoulder. His head is slightly raised and his watery eyes bear a serene, resigned expression as he looks to the heavens. The crown of thorns on his head is reinforced by a luminous rhomboidal halo. The precisely rendered crown shows each of the tender, inte
After a documented stay in Rome and a highly probable visit to Parma to study Correggio, Barocci returned to Urbino in 1576. When he painted this work for Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, he had a very personal style that merged the Venetian use of color with what has been called mystic naturalism. Barocci was at his best in small compositions like the present one, where his tenden
As Homer tells it in The Iliad, Paris the shepherd, son of Priam, had to decide with of the three goddesses —Juno, Venus or Minerva— was the most beautiful, and give her the golden apple Mercury he had received from Mercury. On the left, Paris appears to be meditating, with the apple still in his hands. His attention is focused on Venus, in the middle of the composition. Minerva´s weapons are visi
This painting was first attributed to Cecco del Caravaggio by Joan Ainaud de Lasarte in 1947. At that time, very little was known about this painter, who was later identified as Francesco Buoneri, an artist working in Rome during the second decade of the seventeenth century who had previously been the most outstanding follower of Caravaggio. His relationship with the latter may also have been more
Alessandro Turchi´s The flight into Egypt, early 1630s, was donated to the Museo del Prado by Ferdinand VII, founder of the museum, before 1833. The painting had not been in the Spanish Royal Collection for a long time; in fact it was acquired only a generation earlier by his father, Charles IV, while he was living in exile in Rome following Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. Charles had been an intell
The Virgin Mary is crowned Queen of Heaven by God the Father and Jesus Christ at the same time. The Holy Ghost, appears above them in the form of a dove, occupying the upper vertex of a rhombus formed by the four figures. This work is based on a print by Albrecht Dürer. Various similar versions of it exist, including the one painted for the parish church of Talavera la Vieja (Cáceres),
