A poor student is handing over some coins to a fruit-seller as he makes a knot in the handkerchief, clinched in his teeth, to put away the change. On the right side, in the immediate foreground, a young man biting on a chunk of melon stares at us. He is holding a basket full of fruit, which, besides the melons on the left, is one of the most attractive parts of this splendid “still life with figur
This is a singular example of David Teniers´ indoor scenes. The kitchen or tavern utensils so common in his other works are completed here with a magnificent show of diverse fruit and vegetables. This converts the right part of the composition into a still life. On the left, a character shells mussels, a traditional foodstuff in the Low Countries, while another group works beside the fireplace. Th
A group of local people dance to the sound of bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy in honour of a bride, who presides at the table in the background, surrounded by what seem to be older relatives or guests. The distant background, in which a tall-spired church can be made out, is populated by a group of distinguished personages, one of whom could be Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, governor of the Spani
As with the Rape of Hippodamia (P01658), this marriage scene was commissioned from Rubens as part of the mythological cycle drawn from Ovid´s Metamorphoses, which was to serve as the main artistic decoration of the Torre de la Parada. While Rubens prepared the oil sketch for the scene (Art Institute of Chicago), the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis was one of the numerous full-scale canvases whose ex
Born in 1803, the boy wears the cadet’s uniform of the naval college. The whiteness of the suit and the painstaking detail of the embroidery on the jacket and cap afford the portrait its characteristic clarity. The sitter’s serious mood and calm bearing indicate that he has left childhood behind and is prepared for his future responsibilities, as denoted by his hand gesture. The greyish background
This bust portrait is a companion to that of the sitter´s husband (P02183). Shown at somewhat less than half- length, she wears a white, Nordic-style cap and a severely cut dress, and holds a white carnation in her right hand. According to an inscription in the upper part of the work she is twenty-eight. By placing her over a background that simulates a wooden surface, Amberger achieves an e
The Seasons are the second of the three types of four canvas sets produced by the Bassano bottega in the 1570s. Like the Noah and Elements series, they were extraordinarily successful and many replicas were made. Between 1580 and 1600 the inventories of the Venetian court of Giudici di petizioni cite five series of the Seasons and a further 35 of paesi e animali, and, although there is no mention
By all indications, this panel at the Museo del Prado with the signature FERNA[N]DO GALLEG[U]S is the earliest surviving work by that painter from Salamanca. While some scholars think he must have made it around 1480, the donor’s fashionable clothing, short hair and high cap suggest that the artist must not have painted this panel any later than 1470, and it very likely dates from a few years earl
On 14 February 1612 Juan Bautista Maíno signed the contract to execute the paintings for the monastery church of San Pedro Mártir in Toledo. Maíno agreed to a period of eight months to make the paintings, which had to portray the scenes and episodes specified by the prior of the monastery. Despite the agreement reached in the contract, the paintings were not completed until De
Among the commissions that Correa made for the former monastery of the Bernardine fathers at Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias are a group of three panels with scenes from the Passion of Christ. Their representations in circular compositions and many stylistic similarities indicate that they belonged to the same set. These three panels depict three successive stories: Pilate washing his
Documents at Palencia Cathedral cast light on this Crucifixion’s original location -the central row of the main altarpiece at that cathedral- and its author: Juan de Flandes (doc. 1496-1519). They also offer information about this panel between 1509, when that Flemish painter was commissioned to paint it, and 1944, when the Cathedral management sold it. Those same documents indicate that Palencia
This is a free copy of Hans Holbein´s portrait of the Thomas More, the English humanist and statesman. He wears a cape with a fur collar and a magistrate´s cap. In his hands, he holds a paper alluding to his condition as an intellectual. Holbein was a favorite of Rubens, who copied his works on numerous occasions, especially at the beginning of his career. The present portrait was made in the sixt
In this half-length portrait, the young man wears a red cap and holds a musical instrument that combine features of both the vihuela and the violin. While only partially visible, its fretted neck suggests it belongs to the family of the bowed vihuela or viola da gamba, but its bow and part of the pegbox are closer in appearance to those of the violin family, suggesting it is a hybrid of both. Thes
Depicted more than half-length, the Saint wears a flesh-colored tunic and blue robes with a fur collar and lining and a black cap. The jar of salve in his left hand alludes to his role as a holy doctor. The lower part of the background is unfinished, and only the sky remains in the upper part. While this painting´s attribution to Yáñez has sometimes been questioned, considering it th
In this three-quarter portrait Queen Isabel de Valois (1546-1568) wears a black velvet gown with round sleeves from which her slashed red silk undersleeves embroidered with gold and silver thread peep out. On her head is a tilted flat cap which, like the buttons adorning the gown, is decorated with diamonds and rubies. The French queen would have dressed in this manner for solemn events, embellish
On 14 February 1612 Juan Bautista Maíno signed the contract to execute the paintings for the monastery church of San Pedro Mártir in Toledo. Maíno agreed to a period of eight months to make the paintings, which had to portray the scenes and episodes specified by the prior of the monastery. Despite the agreement reached in the contract, the paintings were not completed until De
As part of the Royal Collection, the City Treasurer and his Wife (the so-called Money Changer and his Wife) is one of the few paintings by Marinus in Spain that can be traced to the eighteenth century, and one which played a decisive role in the rediscovery of the painter’s work. However, when it was first recorded in the collection of Isabel Farnesio in 1746 it was attributed to Lucas de Olanda (
This scene is based on Las moradas [The mansions] (1588), the text by the Saint in which she describes her “spiritual marriage” to Christ. Like its pair (P8152), this canvas was part of the altarpiece of Saint Teresa in the monastery of San Alberto in Seville. Both were painted in the same year that Zurbarán executed The Apparition of Saint Peter to Saint Peter Nolasco, which shares the vis