Paolo Domenico Finoglia was deeply involved in the creation of paintings for the History of Rome cycle at the Buen Retiro Palace. His participation includes this superb Triumph of Bacchus, a Gladiators’ Fight (Patrimonio Nacional, Inv. 10022324) and a painting with a very obscure subject traditionally known as Masinissa Mourning Over the Death of Sophonisba (P2280). This final work was even attrib
In 1897, the artist exhibited Pilgrimage of El Rocío in the Sala Dante in Rome, as well as in the National Fine Arts Exhibition in Madrid that same year, before it was shown in the Munich and Vienna International Exhibitions one year later, where it was awarded several gold medals. This painting continued its international journey after being hired by a Polish businessman who exhibited it i
This set of paintings on the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch) was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the elder.” Rubens placed his figures in the magnificent courtly scenes created by Brueghel as settings for these allegories of the senses, resulting in a series of enormous quality and esthetic appeal. The subject was widely employed i
This panel inlaid with mother-of-pearl executed in New Spain is part of a group of twenty-four pieces that narrate the capture of Mexico.
En el centro, la Virgen coronada por dos angelitos, rodeada por la corte celestial. Abajo, ángeles músicos en las esquinas. El tema, para el cual se conocen algunos dibujos, fue muy trabajado por Guido en sus primeros años, con una cierta influencia de Aníbal Carracci en las formas torneadas de sus ángeles y en una monumentalidad grandiosa, que no es habitual en sus composiciones. Se conocen tres
The island of Saint Christopher (modern-day Saint Kitts) in the Lesser Antilles was invaded by the English and French and recaptured by Spanish forces in 1629. The Spanish expedition was led by Fadrique de Toledo y Osorio, I Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza and Captain General of the Ocean Fleet. He was accompanied by Fleet General Martín de Vallecilla and Admiral Antonio de Oquendo. After
In 1865 the Government of Isabel II commissioned Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer to capture the customs and costumes of Spain´s provinces. This work is part of that project whose anthropological bent was very much in keeping with the Romantic mentality. It shows one of the traditional dances from the province of Soria. This work entered the Prado Museum in 1878 from the now-defunct Museu
This canvas depicts an equestrian event that took place at the Palace of Aranjuez in 1770. It was attended by Charles III and Princess María Luisa, his daughter-in-law, who are to be seen in the second box adjoining the palace façade, and by a crowd of subtly individualised figures. On horseback at the forefront of the pairs of riders are Prince Carlos and the Infantes Gabriel and Lu
Of the artists who painted war scenes in the 17th century, none was as interested as David Teniers II in capturing images from behind the lines. With his customary tactile rigor, he depicts a plethora of military objects lying in the foreground with no apparent order and a handful of figures hanging cuirasses or helping their colleagues to remove their footgear. At the same time, he draws on one o
This panel inlaid with mother-of-pearl executed in New Spain is part of a group of twenty-four pieces that narrate the capture of Mexico.
This cartoon delivered in 1777 was for a tapestry to hang over the door of the king and queen´s dining room at the El Pardo Palace. It depicts a popular scene with five female figures. Two are playing percussion instruments that are shown in detail. The one standing on the right plays a round tambourine with jingles, holding it in her left hand and striking it with her right. The one sitting
The foreground display of numerous military elements, banners, drums, cuirasses and weapons, leads to a genre painting showing some soldiers resting in the background. On the left of the composition, one of the pages works to hang up the soldiers' clothes. Here, as in his other works, Teniers shows his capacity to use light to achieve a perfect representation of the qualities of the objects depict
Scattered around the room we see a large drum and pieces of several sets of armour –one of them still on its stand– and pistols and harquebusses hanging on the wall, on which a flag is also draped. In the background, several men, perhaps soldiers in civilian clothes, are smoking and drinking. Abraham Teniers repeats, with few variants, some of the famous compositions of his brother, the famous Dav
This painting celebrates the freeing of the Swiss town of Constance from its besiegement by Swedish troops under General Horn, who sought to cut off communication between imperial troops and Spanish soldiers at La Valtellina and the Duchy of Milan. Along with The Storming of Rheinfelden (P637) and The Capture of Breisach (P859), this is one of the three paintings at the Hall of Realms that commemo
A wedding procession moves towards the church in a rural setting. The male members of both families lead the procession, headed by the groom. The flower in his hand is clearly a symbol of matrimony. The bride remains among the women. Both wear black clothing and a broad ruff collar, in keeping with early seventeenth-century style. The artist draws on the work of his father, Pieter Brueghel “the El
Los cuatro lienzos de esta serie (P186 a P189) fueron adquiridos por 1.500 pesetas a doña Pilar de la Torre el 21 de junio de 1876, en un lote de copias que forma la única serie completa conservada de los bocetos para el friso de la escalera del monasterio del Escorial [Archivo MNP, seccion direccion, serie adquisiciones, caja 106, leg. 13.1, exp. 31, doc. 1-3. «Orden Ministerial de acuerdo para l
This cartoon for an over-door tapestry depicts boys playing at soldiers, marching with their rifles on their shoulders or playing the drum. The principal boy’s lively, martial air and amusingly childlike pride as he looks out at the viewer make this one of Goya’s finest depictions of childhood. Childhood was one of the subjects that most interested Goya and in many of his scenes the children repre
While it is first listed in 1666 at the Alcázar, where it hung alongside Ribera’s Fable of Bacchus or Teoxenia (of which only three fragments have survived: two at the Museo del Prado and one in a private collection), this work’s subject and dimensions suggest it may originally have been commissioned for the Buen Retiro Palace. Along with Finoglia’s Triumph of Bacchus (P7309), Poussin’s Sac