Retrato de María Josefa Amalia de Sajonia Borbón-Parma (Dresde, Alemania, 1803-Aranjuez, Madrid, 1829), reina consorte de España y tercera esposa (1819) del rey Fernando VII. Peinada con el cabello recogido con peineta de carey y bucles a ambos lados de la frente, luce la banda y cruz de la orden de María Luisa. La factura del retrato y la madurez del semblante de la reina, notablemente más adulto
This half-length portrait of an anonymous woman is traditionally though to be of the painter´s wife, Lucrecia del Fede, who he married in 1518. While there are no conclusive arguments in that regard, the interpretation has led some scholars to date this work from just before the wedding. The composition is derived from female portraits painted by Raphael during his period in Florence between
Mengs painted these portraits of the heirs to the Spanish throne -the prince and princess of Asturias, Carlos de Borbón and Maria Luisa of Parma- on the occasion of their wedding. As the daughter of Philip I, Duke of Parma, and Louise Isabelle of France, and thus granddaughter of Kings Philip V and Louis XV, Maria Luisa was Queen Consort of Spain between 1788 and 1808. She wears a light-col
A portrait of King Carlos IV (1784-1819) wearing red velvet and decorated with the Golden Fleece, on a background of curtains that partially hide a crown at the right edge of the composition. This work may have been made shortly after the Monarch took the throne, as he still wears the sash of Carlos III (1716-1788), whose design was specified on 24 October 1772. Its combination of colors was modif
The pragmatic of January 1623 that dictated a new dress code and has since been used to date what is thought to be the portrait of Pacheco can also be used as a guide for the present work, as the model wears the type of collar that became popular following its application. The tight and detailed brushstrokes, rather hard modeling, and a very directed light are also congruent with Velázquez’
During his visit to Valencia in 1802, the Literary University of the city gave the King this painting which shows the university, personified as a young matron, introducing the royal family to the various faculties: Theology, Law, Philosophy and Medicine. They are accompanied by the goddess Minerva, who points to Peace, Victory and Abundance, who fly over this symbolic reception.
A full-length portrait of Queen María Luis de Parma (1751-1819), wife of King Carlos IV (1748-1819), wearing a large feathered hat and French lace, with a seventeenth-century style bustle and the sort of large skirt flattened in front and back that replaced the farthingale. The only jewelry she wears is the Cruz Estrellada award. Her hand rests on a table covered with a tablecloth on which
Lorenzo Lotto`s various depictions of the penitent Saint Jerome span early versions influenced by Albrecht Dürer and Giovanni Bellini (Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1506) and by young Raphael (Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant`Angelo, Rome, c.1509), to his most personal interpretations from the 1540s. Lotto`s Libro dei Conti (Book of Accounts) lists four paintings between 1544 and 1546 with thi
At the centre of this painting, the apostle Saint Andrew is being tied to the X-shaped cross on which he will die. His muscles are taut and he raises his eyes heavenward, where several angels carry the palm and crown of martyrdom. The cross is tall, allowing Murillo to place the saint in the middle ground, surrounded by a great variety of figures who play different roles and express a range of emo
This still life of birds and fish is set in a kitchen. In the centre of the composition is a duck and other birds hanging from hooks while on the left is a basket of small fish. Montalvo’s careful, solid brushstroke convincingly reproduces the details and conveys the tactile qualities of the dead animals and other objects.
Paolo Veronese`s Penitent Magdalene, 1583, reflects the change occurring in Venetian religious painting around 1580. On one hand, the new order of priorities imposed by the Council of Trent (1545-63) emphasised subjects such as the Eucharist, penitence and the martyrdom of the saints. On the other, the Inquisition began to zealously protect decorum in the treatment of sacred subjects. Veronese had
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
An equestrian portrait of a picador, wearing a short bullfighting suit and hat and carrying a long pike. The background is a landscape with a river. X-rays of this work show that this picador is painted over an equestrian portrait of Manuel Godoy, who wears the sash of the Order of Carlos III, which he received in 1791, and the three-cornered hat of Commander of the Lifeguards, a title he received
The shepherds gather around the Christ Child to adore him and offer him their gifts: a lamb, some hens and a basket of eggs, in a scene that is conceived as a humble counterpart to the Adoration of the Magi. The composition, chiaroscuro technique and figure types suggest a knowledge of the work of Ribera.
Born in 1786 in New Spain, María Francisca de la Gándara y Cardona was the widow of General Fñelix María Calleja del Rey, the last Spanish Viceroy of Mexico. She died in Valencia in 1855. She sits across from the viewer and looks directly at him. In her right hand she holds a breviary, marking the page where she intends to continue her interrupted reading. Her left hand
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Jacopo Bassano and his sons were renowned throughout Europe, but most of all in Spain, after Philip II began acquiring their works in the 1570s. Jacopo was then appreciated as an eminently naturalist painter who specialised in depictions of animals and genre scenes. As the Spanish ambassador to Venice put it in 1574: He is very esteemed for his paint
A domestic scene filled with tenderness showing the Virgin Mary winding a skein of thread and watching the Christ Child, who leans on Saint Joseph while he plays with a little bird and a dog. The almost leading role of the saint corresponds to the increased worship of his figure during the Counterreformation. The apparently insignificant composition of this painting exalts home life, the family an
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