All parts of this extraordinarily meticulous work are related to each other from a formal and iconographic standpoint. The Virgin appears in the foreground, where she occupies a considerable portion of the pictorial surface. This insures her powerful presence, and the painter emphasizes it with a very elaborate frame that fills the image with meaning. There are two clearly differentiated parts, th
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
This scene is related to a passage from the life of Saint Francis in which rose bushes sprang up where his blood had fallen to the ground during one of his sessions of penance The resulting flowers were used to adorn the chapel dedicated to the Virgin at La Porciuncula, where the saint prayed during his retreat. According to tradition, that is a place frequently visited by angels, hence the chapel
Sobre una tosca mesa de madera, descrita táctilmente con los pequeños detalles de la calidad del material, visibles en nudos y muescas, aparecen desordenadamente situadas unas cuantas “peritas de San Juan” y un pan en segundo término, junto al cual se eleva una alcarraza de loza muy blanca que bien pudiera ser andaluza. Se denomina popularmente “jarra de cuatro picos” y muestra una decoración de i
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
This canvas depicts an uncommon manifestation of the Virgin Mary that became popular in eighteenth-century Andalusia. She is seated on a rock surrounded by her flock, holding a rose in her left hand and stroking one of the sheep, which has another rose in its mouth. Above her are angels among the clouds, while in the background the Archangel Michael descends with his sword to rescue a sheep from a
On entering the Museum this painting was inventoried as a product of the Sevillian school, though the 1876 catalogue lists it as a work executed in the style of Jan Both. Valdivieso (1973) considers it to be an eighteenth-century Italian work, while Barghahn (1986) identifies it as one of the landscapes in the Palace of the Buen Retiro inventory, though in fact neither the measurements nor the des
Mounted on a white steed and flanked by an angel bearing a flag, Saint James gallops over a multitude of fallen Moors and horses. The battle scene occupies a rocky landscape in the middle ground. This canvas is a sketch for the elliptical dome at the entrance to the Royal Palace’s chapel and was painted by Giaquinto between 1756 and 1757. The canvas and its corresponding fresco are clearly derived
In this portrait, Pedro Benítez sits informally on a chair, resting his left arm on its back while gazing frankly and directly at the viewer with whom he establishes an empathetic relationship. He is dressed in the fashion of the reign of Ferdinand VII, with a marvellous cravat emerging from his vest and a book in his right hand. Beside him, standing, is his daughter María de la Cruz
The two canvases P382 y P384 are by the same artist and were probably intended as a pair. Their meaning can be gleaned from L’arte de Cenni (1616), the most important treatise on gestures of its day, written by the jurist Giovanni Bonifacio. According to Bonifacio, revealing a bare breast signifies sincerity, “as the breast is the location of the heart and when referring to speaking truly and sinc
Eugenio was the son of Tuscan painter Patricio Cajés, who came to Spain to work for Philip II at the monastery of El Escorial. His mother, Casilda de la Fuente, was Spanish. He began studying painting with his father and later moved to Rome (1595-1599), where he discovered two new trends in painting that would largely define the course of art in the 17th century: Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro an
Concepción Remisa de Moret was the wife of Segismundo Moret y Quintana, a famous nineteenth-century Spanish writer, politician and landowner whose portrait -also by Madrazo- is in the Prado Museum collection as well (P04466). The purity of lines and delicate rendering of this work reveal the influence that the French painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), had on Federico de Mad
The colours of the Virgin’s tunic and cloak, her loose hair, hands crossed on her breast, her devoted gaze raised to heaven and the presence of the moon are elements of the imagery of the Immaculate Conception. Full-length depictions of this subject always include the moon at the Virgin’s feet.
This painting was presented at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1866. It depicts the Great Captain´s encounter with the body of his adversary after the famous battle for the control of the Kingdom of Naples, which was fought during the reign of the Catholic Kings. The page, who still holds the body of his dead lord, directs an imploring gaze at the Spanish hero. The painter clearly captures
Documentation of payment received by Velázquez in July 1629 for an image of Bacchus painted at the king`s behest informs us of the work`s approximate date and identifies its intended recipient. This was shortly before the artist`s first visit to Italy, barely five years after he began working for the king and at a time when he had just met Rubens. During this period, he was specialized in p
This set of mural paintings that adorned the interior of the early eleventh-century Mozarabe church of San Baudelio in Casillas de Berlanga was taken off the walls and exported to the United States in 1926, where it was divided among different institutions. Pieces from that set are now exhibited in museums in Boston and Indianapolis, and at the Cloisters Museum in New York. The six fragments were