Loading...
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
Surrounded by angels holding the symbols of the Passion, God the Father, the dead Christ and the Holy Spirit are shown in a cloud of glory over a landscape. This device, which derives from prints by Dürer, would also be used by Titian for The Glory in the Museo del Prado. The figures reveal the influence of Raphael. Vermeyen was highly appreciated at the court of Charles V and undertook impor
Joaquina Téllez-Girón (1784-1851) married José de Silva Bazán, the future Marquis of Santa Cruz, in 1801. Goya had painted her as a child in the family portrait and alone, at the height of her beauty and as a muse, in 1805. However, Esteve’s less brilliant technique fails to render the subtle transparencies of her gauze dress with the same accomplishment as his master.
On his throne, wearing a red tunic and holding the globe of the World in his left hand, Christ offers his blessing with his right. He is flanked by figures representing the Church and the Synagogue and surrounded by the Tetramorph. Christ is presented as the Savior of the world in this work that contrasts the figure of the Synagogue, with Moses’s tablets and a torn banner; and the figure of the Ch
Christ gives the keys to Saint Peter, symbolising the latter’s authority over the Church, observed by three young women identified with the theological Virtues:Charity, in a white tunic, Faith in a violet one, and Hope, in green. Active in Venice, Catena strongly emphasised the shadowed forms of Saint Peter and Charity against the bright background.
A group of scholars discuss various questions in a room. Some are sitting around tables while others contemplate some of the many paintings and art objects scattered around the room. Depictions of dilettantes or aficionados in collectors´ galleries or rooms ornamented with art objects constituted a customary genre among seventeenth-century Flemish painters, glorifying the practice of collecting as
This set of paintings on the five senses 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 in Flemish painting. Sight was consider
Christ is depicted here in a frontal pose, as “Salvator Mundi”; his hand is raised in blessing, and he holds an orb. Although thought to be from the workshop of Van Cleve, this panel differs from the prototype created by the artist between 1515 and 1518. The orb, in particular, shows a mountainous landscape reminiscent of those painted by Patinir, rather than the regions from which the Magi came:
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
Espinosa was the leading painter working in Valencia in the mid-seventeenth century. He deployed a naturalistic style characterised by precise description and a selective use of light. Most of his works depict religious themes, including the present canvas with its unusual subject matter. The compositional rigour and monumental character make this canvas particularly outstanding within Espinosa’s
The Chronological Series of the Kings of Spain was a museum project planned in 1847 by José de Madrazo to adorn four of the new rooms at the Real Museo de Pinturas (Royal Museum of Paintings), then under his direction. At the height of the confrontation between the supporters of Isabella II and the Carlists, who denied the sovereign’s right to occupy the throne because she was a woman, the
Democritus of Abdera (460-370 B.C.) is the pictorial pendant of Heraclitus (P01680) as well as his philosophical counterpoint. Wearing bright colors, he laughs sarcastically while contemplating a globe of the Earth, alluding to his concept of the comic meaning of life. During the Modern Age, this was interpreted on the basis of Christian precepts as a message alluding to the vanity of earthly life
This is the only example known to have been painted by Zurbarán of the medieval iconography of Jesus as savior, making this canvas especially interesting to historians of art. Similar examples had decorated the title pages of New Testaments in early illustrated Bibles from the Middle Ages through the sixteenth century, but were rare by the time Zurbarán painted his version of the sam
Velázquez painted The Coronation of the Virgin for Queen Elizabeth of Bourbon`s new prayer chapel at Madrid`s Alcázar palace, where it was intended to complete the series of nine paintings by Alessandro Turchi on The Feasts of Our Lady that Cardinal Gaspar de Borja y Velasco had sent to Madrid from Rome in 1635 or earlier. This was Velázquez`s last religious painting. The pray
This is a preparatory sketch for the painting of the main altarpiece of the Chapel of Saint Anthony at Madrid´s church of San Francisco el Grande. It was part of the decoration of the church promoted by King Carlos III, which was completed in 1781. Seven court painters, all members of the Academy, were commissioned to carry out one of the most important decorative projects of that period, between
Charles V commissioned The Glory from Titian during their meeting in Augsburg in 1550-51. The painting was completed in October 1554 and was sent to Brussels. The unusual composition, which must correspond to precise instructions on the part of the emperor, as Gronau noted, is presided over by the Trinity, with the Virgin and behind her Saint John the Baptist -theologically the two principal inter
Mary sits in a portico open to the landscape, holding the Christ Child as Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi) in her lap. In one hand, the infant holds a globe of the world and with the other he offers blessings. Wearing a red cloak that alludes to the future Passion of her Son, the Virgin is about to be crowned Queen of Heaven by an angel. This work owes debts to Jan van Eyck´s Madonna Rolin and
