Within the large series of paintings dedicated to the history of Rome, this work and Meleager’s Hunt (P2320) belong to a small group of scenes from mythology and the history of Antiquity. This is undoubtedly the most mysterious group in the series -so much so, that the subject matter of some of its paintings has yet to be identified today. Moreover, neither the significance of this group as a whol
On June 5, 1625 the Dutch governor of Breda, Justinus van Nassau, surrendered the keys of that city to Ambrosio Spínola, the Genoese general commanding the Spanish tercios (a group of soldiers that included pikemen, swordsmen and musketeers) of Flanders. Breda`s extraordinary strategic importance made it one of the most disputed cities in the Spanish monarchy`s prolonged war against the Uni
Jesus is shown half-length, crowned with thorns and with a haggard face, parted lips, prominent cheekbones, and moist eyes raised in an attitude of submission to the divine will. His hair, beard, moustache and eyelashes are minutely rendered in a light brown colour. Similarly detailed is the treatment of the tears and drops of blood. The latter, caused by the thorns piercing his forehead and the w
These four portraits of women, two double ones and two single ones (P02073, P02074 and P02076) presented standing and down to kneelevel, use the same architectural setting. The series is given visual unity by the use of a central niche and two more, barely visible ones at the sides, separated by masonry pillars and decorated with small lions’ heads in the centre.This use of shared elements is prob
This is the largest of the paintings that Lemaire, a French artist working in Rome, produced for the decoration of the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid. The architectural ruins and sculptural fragments are real but their arrangement in the scene is imaginary. The identity of the hermit remains unclear.
Tereus, King of Thrace and wife of Procne, raped his sister-in-law, Philomela, cutting out her tongue in order to avoid being denounced. But when Philomela weaves a tapestry, her sister Procne discovers the atrocious event. In vengeance, she kills Tereus´ son, serving it to him in a macabre banquet. The story is based on Ovid´s Metamorphoses (Book VI). Rubens chose to depict the exact moment when,
Depictions of painting galleries became popular in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century. The exhibition of paintings and other artistic or natural objects was originally a way of manifesting the high social standing of an eminently bourgeois class with a strong desire to ennoble itself. In many cases, the paintings did not rigorously reflect the client’s collection, but served inst
The painting resembles the View of Tivoli, in size, type of support and subject matter. Indeed, the overhanging rock in the foreground beside the fishermen would appear to be inspired by that beneath which the shepherds are located. Moreover, the tree that emerges in the upper left part is similar to the one that stands between the two temples in View of Tivoli. In the 1701 inventory both works, t
The first known reference to this painting from the Spanish Royal Collection dates from 1700, when it was mentioned as being in the Alcázar, Madrid, along with another painting by Luca Giordano, Mater Dolorosa, now lost. It is in magnificent condition, and was restored in 2007.The powerful foreground shows Christ, rope around his neck, painfully carrying the cross. The general tone evokes t
Mercury, the son of Jupiter and Maya, bears his characteristic attributes as the gods´ messenger: a winged hat and shoes, as well as the caduceus, a hazel wand with two serpents wound around it, which Apollo gave him as a symbol of agreement and reconciliation. The god´s anatomy and the use of paint give this figure a sculptural appearance, showing Rubens capacity to depict on canvas some of the m
In the foreground of this canvas, a figure dressed in green holds in his hands what appears to be a pack of cards and looks directly at the viewer, as if to invite us to participate in the game. He is in the countryside, seated under the protection of a rocky crag. Behind him is a landscape that ends in a range of mountains on the horizon. Velázquez painted the portrait around 1638, and it
On 16 April 1529 Federico II Gonzaga, First Duke of Mantua (1500-1540), apologised to his uncle Alfonso d’Este for retaining Titian: perché ha conienzo un retratto mio qual molto desidero sii finito (because he has started a portrait of me which I greatly desire to be finished). In 1530 a second portrait of Federico in armour is also recorded. Typologically and conceptually, the present por
Las representaciones de San Juan Bautista como niño tienen su origen en el Renacimiento italiano, pero los pintores de ese momento emparejaron generalmente su figura infantil con la del Niño Jesús, dentro de composiciones en las que casi siempre aparecía también la Virgen y se ponía de relieve una tierna relación entre los dos infantes. Andando el tiempo, los artistas comenzaron a dar un tratamien
This painting entered the Museum`s holdings as a copy of a work by Jan Both, described as Saint Francis in Penitence and listed as the companion piece to Landscape with Saint Francis in Meditation. It was later catalogued as an anonymous work of the Germanic schools and from 1910 onwards as an anonymous Flemish work. However, this landscape can be identified with one of the pictures described in t
This painting is identified in the early catalogues of the Museum`s holdings with the landscape listed in the 1766 inventory of the collection of Isabella Farnese in the palace of La Granja, which, in turn, could be the landscape with shepherds by the hand of the Hermit (the nickname by which Herman van Swanevelt was known in Rome) recorded as being located in the Alcázar of Madrid in 1686,