Aesop and Menippus are first listed in the inventory of the Torre de la Parada between 1701 and 1703. Among other works, this hunting lodge had a vast cycle of mythological paintings made by Rubens and his assistants, as well as some of Velázquez’s portraits of buffoons and member of the royal family dressed as hunters. The inventory also lists Rubens’s Democritus and Heraclitus, which is p
Joseph is a handsome and virtuous slave falsely accused of rape by his master´s wife, whose advances he has rejected. He is imprisoned, but eventually raised to the highest office by Pharaoh (Exodus: 39). Joseph and the Wife of Putiphar and Susannah and the Elders (P386) can be understood as parables of righteousness threatened and preserved, but here -as was usual for artists of the Renaissance a
In an architectural setting, a winged Victory crowns David with a laurel wreath. The latter holds his sword with one hand and looks directly at Goliath´s decapitated head, which rests on some pieces of armor. Three putti complete the group. One of them plays an instrument while another hands Victory the royal crown destined for David. This image alludes to a passage from the Old Testament (Samuel
Esta pequeña tabla es la más tardía de las pinturas del artista conservadas dentro de la colección. Fue pintada para Jean Pointel y al menos entre 1714 y 1722 se documenta en posesión de Jacques Meyer, negociante y armador de Róterdam. En 1746 se menciona por primera vez, junto con otras obras del pintor, en la Colección Real española, en el palacio de La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia). La comp
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
Wearing a child´s dress of branched yellow fabric with silver adornments and the sash and cross of the Order of the Saint-Esprit, the future monarch rests his right hand on a small dog that stands atop a chair partially covered by a curtain. His gesture seeks to calm the animal, who is barking at a monkey on the other side of the prince. The small simian is attempting to grab his leash, whic
Aesop and Menippus are first listed in the inventory of the Torre de la Parada between 1701 and 1703. Among other works, this hunting lodge had a vast cycle of mythological paintings made by Rubens and his assistants, as well as some of Velázquez’s portraits of buffoons and member of the royal family dressed as hunters. The inventory also lists Rubens’s Democritus and Heraclitus, which is p
In a lush, wooded landscape on the banks of a quiet river, a nude woman, sitting on a richly colored red cloak, gestures to two male figures posed beside her. Supporting a glazed jug in her lap, she points to the standing nude boy, who pours wine from a golden ewer into the mouth of a kneeling satyr. Wearing a grapevine belt and a crown, the satyr, a half-man, half-goat creature associated with un
This is an official portrait of Queen Isabella Farnese (1692-1766), daughter of Eduardo II, Duke of Parma and second wife of Felipe V of Spain (1683-1746), whom she married in 1714. Shown three quarters and sumptuously dressed, the Queen turns her body to the left and her head to the right in an elegant pose characteristic of French portraits of that period. The technique of this painting, with a
La historia de Eurídice aparece en dos ocasiones en el ciclo de la Torre de la Parada; su muerte y su truncada salida de los infiernos. Su muerte es narrada por Ovidio en el libro X (5-10) de las Metamorfosis: "(...) Pues cuando paseaba la novia por un prado acompañada de un grupo de Náyades, murió al sufrir en un tobillo la mordedura de una serpiente". El lienzo es obra de E. Quellinus, discípulo
Este es uno de los varios perros de caza pintados por Paul de Vos que habrían decorado la Torre de la Parada. Todos ellos aparecen en un paisaje abierto de similares características; falta de vegetación en el primer término donde aparecen rocas, en las cuales el artista aprovecha para firmar, árboles al fondo en diferentes planos y un gran desarrollo del cielo. El tratamiento del paisaje guarda ci
Parnassus, the mythological mountain of Apollo and the Muses is the scene for a celebration of the Arts, especially Poetry. Apollo offers the nectar of the gods to a poet, probably Homer, who is crowned with a laurel wreath by Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. The putti in the foreground offer the poets the water of inspiration that flows from the spring of Castalia, personified by the nude woman
Aranjuez, some 40 kilometres from Madrid, was one of the so-called royal residences (Sitios Reales) all situated within a radius of less than 80 kilometres from the capital that were intended for the relaxation of the king and his court. Aranjuez´s location on the shores of the Tajo River, amid fertile countryside, led Philip II to construct a palace that was gradually expanded by his successors,
Son of Philip V and María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya, Ferdinand VI (reigned 1746-59) became Prince of Asturias in 1724 and married María Bárbara de Braganza, Infanta of Portugal. Here he is depicted in shoes with heels, wearing court dress comprising a cuirass, a salmon pink frock coat and a long waistcoat in yellow-gold, both richly embroidered. He has a white lace neck tie and
The duchess wears a red silk masquerade gown with a mother-of-pearl overskirt decorated with branch motifs and fur edging, under a red-and-gold coat that matches her whimsical headdress. Holding a black mask in her right hand, she stands in a gallery through which we see the sky and some trees that create a vanishing point while simultaneously allowing the artist to include some elements of offici
This portrait of Charles IV as the Prince of Asturias has as its pendant a portrait of his wife, María Luisa of Parma, also in the Museo del Prado (P2189). Anton Raphael Mengs had come to Spain in 1761 at the invitation of Charles III in order to serve as pintor de camára, or court painter, the most prestigious appointment for an artist in the service of the king. He probably produce
Isabella Farnese (1692-1766), the daughter of Odoardo II, Prince of Parma, and of Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg, married Philip V of Spain in 1714. This portrait is a replica of one made in Parma by Molinaretto, after the Queen´s arrival in Spain, copying a miniature or a portrait prior to her departure from Italy, and from which she later commissioned replicas that she had brought to Spain, giving a
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