Following his appointment as painter to the King in 1623, Velázquez`s principal task was that of portraying the monarch and his circle. In order to do so he primarily made use of two different typologies: bust-length and full-length portraits, in which the sitters are represented standing and close to the picture plane. Among the characteristics that define the latter group are a limited ch
A bearded, grey-haired old man turns his head to the left over a black background. This is similar to another head by the same artist (P1491) and is probably a sketch or model for a larger work, intended to study expressions and posture.This head reflect a practice widespread among seventeenth-century artists of painting life studies in preparation for the faces of the figures in their religious a
Estudio de La Piedad en el que se representa a Cristo sentado en el suelo, apoyando el cuerpo sobre la pierna derecha de la Virgen. (Texto extractado de Arnáez, R.: Catálogo de Dibujos. II. Dibujos Españoles. Siglo XVIII (A-B), Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1975, p. 115).
La composición del dibujo se enmarca en un óvalo. En él se representa en pie a Pandora, apoyada en una caja de forma de urna con la llave en la mano derecha, con la cabeza doblada, pensativa, sobre la mano izquierda. A sus pies, un perro y un amorcillo con una antorcha hacia abajo, apagándola. Iconográficamente se relaciona estrechamente con otro dibujo de la Biblioteca Nacional inscrito también e
Maganza´s work belongs to the mainstream of painting in the Veneto during the last years of the sixteenth century and the first decades of the seventeenth. His drawings, especially, reveal the influence of both Antonio Zelotti (1526-1578) and, more importantly, Hans Rottenhammer (1564/65-1625), the German-born painter who established a studio in Venice shortly before 1600, where he resided f
Gabriele Finaldi was the first to point out that the seated pope seems to be Pius V (Ghislieri), the Dominican, pro-Spanish pontiff who reigned from 1566 to 1572. As Cardinal Ghislieri, he held the office of grand inquisitor under the two previous pontiffs, Paul IV and Pius IV. Comparison of the visage and physique of the pope in the drawing with those in the many surviving portraits of Pius V sho
This drawing, formerly in the Spanish Royal Collection, was recognised as an autograph work by Guercino by Manuela Mena Marqués. The suggested date for it is around the 1650-60, when Guercino had attained artistic maturity, a date that stylistically seems correct. Mena Marqués also proposed that the drawing stood alone and was not intended as a preparatory work for a painting, a hypo
This is the companion to the drawing D01646. The execution of the hands and hair is especially characteristic of Ludovico Carracci´s style.
As J.A. Gere pointed out in 1981 (pencil note on the modern museum mount), the composition is taken from Polidoro´s facade decoration of the Palazzo Milesi, Rome. Judging from the style, the copyist was eighteenth century, which might imply he used an engraving or another drawing after Polidoro as his model, rather than the painted facade itself.
When the Virgin Mary was three years old her parents, Anna and Joachim, led her to the Temple of Jerusalem. There the young Virgin, without the assistance of her parents, climbed the staircase leading to the priest, who, surrounded by the women of the temple, embraced and blessed her.The episode is contained in the Gospel of James and in the Golden Legend (c.1250). Since the 1960s this drawing has
Perhaps by a Spanish follower of Federico Zuccari who was accomplished at representing hunting scenes.
Traditionally, this work was considered a preparatory sketch for the frescoes on the dome of the collegiate church at La Granja. In 1768 Charles III initiated the decoration of that church, and its dome appears in architect Francesco Sabatini’s drawings with eight spaces designated for pictorial scenes. Spanish painters Mariano Salvador Maella (1739-1819) and Francisco Bayeu y Subías (1734-
Preparatorio para el grupo principal del lienzo pintado en 1634 para el Salón de Reinos del Buen Retiro, hoy en el Museo del Prado (P00858). Los dos generales a caballo son Ambrosio Spínola y Felipe Messia de Guzmán, marqués de Leganés. La presencia del primero ha hecho que en alguna ocasión se interpretase lienzo y dibujo como representación de la Rendición de Breda, por aquel general. (Texto ext
The composition, which I have been unable so far to identify, may have been taken from a print. The inventor of the design was evidently either Venetian or Veronese.
The authorship of these two small but lively compositional studies -D1817 and D1818- has given rise to some disagreement. The most recent suggestion that they are the work of the Brescian Lattanzio Gambara, has received support among specialists, though the purpose for which they were made remains uncertain. They are evidently alternatives for the same composition, perhaps intended for a large-sca
Apunte certero con lápiz diestramente manejado en bisel para obtener las masas y la entonación con suma sencillez. Agua en primer término. Cuatro manchas de arbolados que se van alejando gradualmente hacia la lejanía (Gutiérrez Márquez, A., Carlos de Haes en el Museo del Prado 1826-1898, Madrid , 2002).
Annibale Carracci established the early Baroque style in Italy with Caravaggio (1571-1610). Annibale`s naturalistic style was based on the Antique and on Raphael, and unlike Caravaggio`s sombre realism, continued the representational tradition of the Italian Renaissance. Annibale`s style evolved in Bologna, where he worked together with his brother Agostino (1557-1602) and their cousin Ludovico. I
This is a copy after a prototype by either Tintoretto (1560-1635), or Veronés (1528-1588), or by a member of their respective circles.