Three figures enjoy tobacco in an expressive manner in the foreground while an onlooker leans through the window. Around a table in the background, another group of figures drinks or plays cards. This is an example of scenes inside taverns with smokers, drinkers and players, which Teniers made during the sixteen thirties. He began with figures by his teacher, Adriaen Brouwer (1605/1606-1638), whic
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
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
If we compare this painting with the Animals Entering the Ark (P22), we find that the iconographic elements which identify the subject have been shifted to a middle plane -Noah thanking God for bringing the flood to an end by means of a burnt offering (Genesis 8: 20-22) and the appearance of the rainbow as a symbol of the covenant between God and man (Genesis, 9: I-17)- while the foreground depict
Standing alongside a velvet curtain with her left hand resting on a buffet covered with a crimson velvet cloth, Christine of Lorraine wears a black robe adorned with gold buttons and holds a fan in her right hand. Duchess of Florence, she was born to Charles II of Lorraine in 1566, married Ferdinand I of Medici in 1589 and died on February 19, 1637.There is a preparatory drawing of her hands at th
An angel appears to Saint Joseph in his sleep, pointing to the dove of the Holy Ghost as the heavens open in a luminous burst of glory. Under the dove, a group of angels carry a mirror and flowers alluding to the fact that Mary remains a virgin despite her pregnancy. On a mat alongside the saint, we see an adze, a hand drill and other carpentry tools.Saint Joseph’s Dream was a relatively frequent
The finest work of all Gisbert’s production, this impressive painting is also unarguably one of the most beautiful of all 19th-century Spanish history paintings. Moreover, it is one of the greatest political manifestos of all Spanish painting in defense of human freedom crushed by authoritarianism and one of the very few cases in which a clear propagandistic message was directly inspired by govern
Practically unknown until now, the present canvas has only been mentioned and reproduced in an article by Matías Díaz Padrón, former curator at the Prado, that was published in Archivo Español de Arte in 1980. The author, who had not seen the painting at first hand, attributed it to Pieter Brueghel the Younger.The canvas depicts the Saint Martin`s Day wine festival. The
The Virgin’s facial type, the confident drawing and the forceful rendering of the spatial planes originally led this work to be attributed to Claudio Coello. But in 1986 more precise knowledge of the artistic personality of Mateo Cerezo led Rogelio Buendía and Ismael Gutiérrez Pastor to name him as its author. This attribution has been maintained and it rests on a comparison to signe
Born in El Escorial in 1609, don Fernando was the son of Philip III and Margarita de Austria, and thus Philip IV´s brother. As a result, he held very high posts. In 1619, he was appointed cardinal and between 1634 and his death in 1641, he was governor of Flanders, where he succeeded his aunt, the Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia. Generally dated around 1632-1634, in the years immediately followin
The plaza occupies the center of the image, surrounded by the fortifications and the camp. Amprosio Spínola appears in a carriage alongside a group of riders and footmen in the right foreground. On the left, a cartouche details the different positions in Italian, with indicative letters and numerals. We have detailed knowledge of this crucial moment in the War of Flanders, thanks to Hermann
Born to an Austrian Catholic family, Juan Everardo Nithard (Falkenstein, 1607-Rome, 1681)became a Jesuit. His solid grounding in theology led Emperor Ferdinand III to appoint him confessor to his children, Leopold and Mariana, and when the latter married Philip IV, he accompanied her to Madrid in the same role. Widowed, Mariana became reagent for her son, Charles, until he came of age, and during
Although Bettini noted a number of paternal precedents for this painting, it is a personal interpretation by Francesco of the gospel passage. Three versions are known, of which the Prado painting is the last. The first, dated about 1585, was auctioned by Sotheby´s of Florence in 1984, and there is a preparatory drawing of the figures of the elderly man with a bear and the page on the left (V
A young peasant girl from the Lazio flirts with her hands, dressed in traditional costume and leaning on a wall. The picturesque type of Italian country girl known as a ciociara was an extremely popular subject among European painters travelling in Italy at this period. Located in a setting skilfully constructed through the use of a low-level light, Rosales sketches out the figure using broad brus
As on many other occasions, the painter´s sons are his model for this work. In a barely-furnished room, the two brothers have fun together. José, the elder, leans on the table, drawing, while Ignacio fondly rests his hand on his older brother´s back, observing the progress. This scene is an example of the sort of intimate and familiar painting this artist made throughout his life. Of partic
Inside a room, a young man is copying a classical bust by candlelight. Since 1910 this work appears in the Museo del Prado catalogues as signed and dated on the lower left angle (G. J. Palthe f. 1732), but there is no longer any evidence of this. The scene is typical of the kind painted by Godfried Schalcken (P2078), of whom Palthe was a follower. The young man, the bust and the candle also crop u
Acquired by Philip V for the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Idelfonso, where it appeared in a 1727 inventory, Carnival in Rome, 1653, is one of the best known paintings by Flemish artist Jan Miel. In fact, it may well be his most recognised depiction of Carnival, a popular feastcomprising dances, masquerades and pantagruelian gatherings, the excesses at which were intended to prepare believers f
This emblematic picture is undoubtedly the best-known work on a social theme produced by Sorolla in his youth. It is also an especially good example of how fully the artist became involved in a genre which, at the time, was of particular relevance in Madrid’s official artistic circles, where Sorolla was determined to receive his first public recognition. The depth of its meaning is probably indica