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This work has recently been added to the donation made by Plácido Arango. It has been convincingly attributed to Francisco de Herrera the Younger due to the similarities between some of its details and those in autograph works by the artist, one of the most influential painters in Madrid and Seville in the mid-seventeenth century.
The Virgin’s facial type, the confident drawing and the forceful rendering of the spatial planes originally led this work to be attributed to Claudio Coello. But in 1986 more precise knowledge of the artistic personality of Mateo Cerezo led Rogelio Buendía and Ismael Gutiérrez Pastor to name him as its author. This attribution has been maintained and it rests on a comparison to signe
"David contempló desde la terraza de su palacio a la bella Betsabé que se encontraba desnuda bañándose. Preguntó por ella y le respondieron que se trataba de la mujer de Urías, el jeteo, lo cual no desanimó al rey, que mandó llamarla y durmió con ella, quedando Betsabé embarazada. David envió a Urías a la muerte, dejando así libre el camino para tomar por esposa a Betsabé" (Samuel II, 11: 2-27).La
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
This surprising canvas presents the image of the Virgin of Atocha, just as she was worshipped on her altar at the Dominican convent dedicated to her on the outskirts of Madrid. This type of votive image with luxurious rigid clothing that gives the figure a conical silhouette—hence their popular characterization as “funnel” images—is very characteristic of the 17th century and quite frequently repr
The saint’s figure, with long blond tresses, occupies the center of the scene. Gazing at the heavens, she crosses her hands across her bosom in prayer. Her worn clothing is enveloped in large floating robes whose movement is decidedly diagonal, and the cloud on which she kneels is carried towards Heaven by Coello’s customary cherubs. Some hold the attributes that always accompany her when she is r
Youth portrait of Victor Amadeo II of Savoy (1666-1732) husband of Ana María de Orleans (1669-1728) and brother-in-law, therefore of Queen María Luisa de Orleans. The person portrayed would be disguised as a mythological character, perhaps Apollo. This canvas is one of a group of portraits collected by María Luisa de Orleans (1662-1689), first wife of Carlos II of Spain, which
This work shows a taste for the monumental and straightforward. During those years, Spanish court painters of quite varied training underwent a process in which their compositions grew clearer, more solemn and serene. The balance of masses and the presence of the figures recall classicist approaches, as the artist has reduced accessories and the spatial sense to a minimum. Even the opening to Heav
Murillo created a highly successful formula for representing the Immaculate Conception, with the Virgin dressed in blue and white, her hands crossed over her bosom and her gaze directed at the heavens as she stands on the moon. He presents her with a clearly upward impulse that situates her in a celestial space filled with light, clouds and angels. That was the artist’s manner of combining two dif
Seated on a cloud, God the Father holds a brush in his right hand, using it to add the final touches to a depiction of the Immaculate Conception. The idea of God as a painter was widespread in Golden Age Spanish culture and was used to allegorically explain the creation of the world or to pay tribute to the art of painting.
Giuseppe Recco, a member of one of the most famous families of Neapolitan still-life painters in the seventeenth century, was born in Naples on 12 July 1634. His vast output was consistently high in quality and is characterised by a marked cultural eclecticism, taking in a number of different still-life styles, from Spanish to northern European to Roman, with an unusual iconographic versatility.In
The baton in the sitter’s right hand and the cannon indicate that he is an artillery general, while the insignia hanging from his neck denotes his membership of the Order of Calatrava. Stylistically this canvas is clearly indebted to the work of Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641).
After the death of Velázquez, Carreño showed himself to be the artist most worthy of continuing the depiction of monsters, jesters, and dwarves that inhabited the Spanish court. Inventories show that the Alcázar possessed a large number of portraits of this kind by Carreño, among which are the two of the Monster, as well as others that have unfortunately disappeared. Th
Francisco Bazán was a buffoon at the court of Charles II between 1676 and 1689. Carreño, who was reaching the end of his career when he painted this work, depicts the sitter as if delivering a note. The composition and way of inserting the figure into the pictorial space recall Velázquez’s portrait of Pablo de Valladolid.
Turned to the left in a three-quarters view, the Virgin is depicted sitting on a throne of clouds resting on a crescent moon whose points face down. In her arms she holds the Christ child, who blesses the viewer with his right hand. The surrounding angels are arranged in a circular arch that also appears in other works by Maratti, such as his Immaculate Conception, after 1670 (Cybo chapel in the R
