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On June 5, 1625 the Dutch governor of Breda, Justinus van Nassau, surrendered the keys of that city to Ambrosio Spínola, the Genoese general commanding the Spanish tercios (a group of soldiers that included pikemen, swordsmen and musketeers) of Flanders. Breda`s extraordinary strategic importance made it one of the most disputed cities in the Spanish monarchy`s prolonged war against the Uni
The famous Flemish painter is portrayed almost full-length, sitting in a chair and wearing red robes and a fur coat. This landscape painter and contemporary of Van Dyck had no left arm, which is clearly shown, rather than hidden, in this portrait. In keeping with the Northern tradition of portraiture established by Anthonis Mor (1519-1576) and Adriaen Willem Key (1515/1520 - 1568), Van Dyck places
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
In the centre of a rectangular surface Bosch incised a circle in which he depicted this scene of Extracting the stone of madness. The resulting image is a mirror that offers a reflection of folly and human madness, located in a rural world remote from that of the nobility and urban life, hence the setting in the countryside in an open landscape. As found in miniature painting of the time, the arti
This painting is the result of two acts carried out in different periods. First, Velázquez painted the surface occupied by the figures and the tapestry in the background. Later, in the 18th century, a wide strip (with the arch and oculus) was added to the top, along with narrower ones on the left, right and bottom (these additions are not visible in the current presentation of this work). T
The Virgin with the Pomegranate is an exceptional work painted during one of the key periods in the history of art, in Florence, cradle of the Renaissance, in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, by one of its principal protagonists. Guido di Pietro, known as Fra Angelico and probably trained with Lorenzo Monaco, is first documented as an independent master in 1418. Between that date and 14
Painted in Seville in 1619, The Adoration of the Magi is the largest of Velázquez`s early works and, together with Saint Ildefonso receiving the Chasuble, the one with the most figures, making it one of the artist`s most ambitious compositions to date in his career. Both the above characteristics suggests that it was painted for a religious interior, very probably one associated with the Je
Vicente Carducho is a paradigmatic figure in Spanish painting from the early decades of the seventeenth century, a period of transition from the Tuscan-Roman mannerism to so-called early naturalism. In this context, the works of Carducho, who trained in the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial together with his brother, Bartolomé, may be seen as prolonging the Tuscan traditions in their
The Florentine Bartolomé Carducho arrived at the royal monastery of El Escorial in 1585, two years after El Greco had completed The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice for that building. Philip II was unhappy with the latter work and El Greco thus failed to establish connections with the Spanish court, in contrast to Carducho whose appointment to the key position of Painter to the King allowed him t
Toledo was one of the cities that attracted the interest of artists and writers, from the romantics to the Generation of 1898. It possessed a rich and varied past, from its pre-Roman origins to its status as the capital of the Visigoths; as the city later renowned for the relatively peaceful cohabitation of Muslims, Jews and Christians during the period of Moorish rule; and, finally, as the imperi
Ferdinand III bears a sword and the globe of the world in his hands while the kneeling Moorish king presents him the keys to the city, visible in the background. A lion appears on the left, and each king is flanked by his respective retinue. The Museo del Prado’s 1920 catalog attributed this painting to Amigoni (following the 1794 palace inventory) but it is actually a sketch for a painting by Fli
Nani depicts a partridge and a female duck tied to a tree, a thrush and two quails, one of them already plucked and skinned in preparation for cooking. While the birds’ different states refer to various stages in the hunt, the decorative nature of the composition prevails over their realistic appearance. This canvas was commissioned by the heir to the throne, the future Charles IV, for the Royal P
Court Painter, Director of the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid and a key artistic figure in the period, Bayeu was Goya’s brother-inlaw and their relations were at times extremely tense. This portrait, which was commissioned by Bayeu’s daughter for display at the Academy after the artist’s death in August 1795, is based on a selfportrait, now in a private collection.Goya emphasises Bayeu’s dry a
Inspired by Ovid´s Metamorphoses, this key work in Reni´s oeuvre tells the story of Atalanta, the daughter of Schoeneus, king of Arcadia. Seeking a husband, she offered to marrie anyone able to outrun her in a race. Suitors unable to do so, however, would be killed. Hippomenes was enamored of her and thus accepted the challenge with the help of Venus, who gave him three golden apples. He was suppo
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
The keys in his right hand identify the figure as Saint Peter. A less common attribute is the book. To represent the saint, Ribera has used a real model with distinctive appearance, which make his sanctity believable.
Series of Apostles became very popular during the Counter-reformation; they were usually half-length figures against a neutral background, holding their iconographical attributes. One of the most important series is the one that Ribera painted around 1630. It is mentioned for the first time in the Royal Collection towards the end of the eighteenth century and is made up of paintings of varying qua
This work entered the Museo del Prado in 1916 titled Penitent Magdalene, along with almost ninety other Italian, French, Flemish and Spanish works from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, nearly all with religious subjects. They were part of the bequest of Pablo Bosch y Barrau, a financier who loved and studied art. In 1924 Hermann Voss attributed this painting to Antonio Zanchi (1631-1722), a
