In the shadow of great names like Velázquez, a very interesting school of painting developed in Madrid during the seventeenth century. On occasions, it reached very high levels of quality. One of its members was Cabezalero. Few of his works are known, but they are all of a certain quality, as can be seen in the present Assumption, where this artist´s characteristic taste for monumenta
We can identify Saint Francis by his habit, his rope belt and the wound on his right hand. He raises his gaze towards heaven and holds a skull in his left hand. A crucifix rests on a book in front of him in this scene that presents him deep in prayer as a direct result of his meditations.Painted in Madrid in 1659 during the final years of Zurbarán’s life, Saint Francis at Prayer is a paradi
The picture belongs to a group of scenes set inside a stable which Wouwerman began painting in 1655. This cycle is an exception in the painter`s output, which was mainly focused on outdoor scenes. Most of these stable views are based on the same compositional scheme: two-thirds of the panel is occupied by the dark interior of the stable, which opens out on the left towards a landscape painted in m
The painting featured here is an example of the characteristic compositions with poultry in which D`Hondecoeter specialised. This type of painting was brought to Utrecht in 1619 by Roeland Savery (1576-1639), who had, in turn, been introduced to this genre -of which the most prominent and influential practitioner was Frans Snyders (1592-1667)- while at the court of Rudolf II of Prague.D`Hondecoete
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 original composition was enlarged on the right side with a section of wood of around 10.5 cm, glued against the grain. During the restoration carried out in 1994 it was noted that the preparation and execution of this section differed from the rest of the composition, indicating that it was added later. Isabella Farnese`s seal, printed on the back, can be found on the original panel but not in
Considered to be, with good reason, the most beautiful nude in nineteenth-century Spanish painting, this work provides eloquent testimony of the modernity that made Rosales stand out in the Spanish artistic panorama of his time. He would have earned himself a prominent place among the era´s artistic vanguard in Europe if his brilliant career had not been cut short by his premature death. Neither a
Saint Joseph’s Dream represent the order received by St Joseph to save the Christ child from the slaughter of the Innocent, and the release of the Liberation of Saint Peter (P3141), was imprisoned by Herod. The academic nudes reveals the training of the young painter, whose loose, impasted technique recalls that of his master Maella, though he employs a cooler palette. The forced perspective indic
The first known reference to this work dates from 1746, when an inventory of paintings at the La Granja Palace was drawn up. There, it is attributed to Velázquez and identified as a likeness of his wife, Juana, whose father was the painter, Francisco Pacheco. It also specifies that she is holding a board. The linking of anonymous portraits to the lives of their authors was frequent in the 1
En 1840, José de Madrazo era ya una de las personalidades más relevantes de la vida cultural de la primera mitad del siglo XIX. Ostentaba simultáneamente, a sus cincuenta y nueve años, los cargos de presidente de la Sección de Pintura del Liceo Artístico y Literario de Madrid, director de Pintura de la Academia de San Fernando, director del Real Museo, secretario de la reina gobernadora, académico
El palentino Martínez del Rincón desarrolló una carrera marcada por las reminiscencias de un romanticismo tardío. Combinó su interés por los asuntos orientalistas con la pintura de tipos femeninos, que abordó siempre desde arquetipos conservadores. Esta es una de sus pinturas más célebres en ese sentido, y una de las muchas imágenes de la feminidad que le adquirió el Estado a través de los premios
A woman paints energetically à plein air in a fashionable resort on the Normandy coast. Although it cannot be ruled out that this is a portrait of a real woman artist, the ambiguous characterisation would distance it from the conventions used to depict male painters by both Palmaroli and the artists of his closest circle.
The main scene occupies the foreground, though it is no longer set in the plane closest to the viewer as in the previous period, but slightly further back. As a result, the figures are smaller in size. The horizon line is also lower, affording the sky greater prominence. Furthermore, although the composition is still partly enclosed in the background by a diagonal, it extends into the distance on
From an early age, Domingo displayed considerable skill as a portraitist. In this self-portrait, he is seated in profile, standing out against a dark background. In contrast to the intimate, introspective nature of most self-portraits, here the artist clearly had a larger public in mind; this is evident in the format and the clothing, and also in the emphasis on the tools of the painter’s professi
Born in Flanders, Livio Mehus moved to Milan at a young age and is thus often considered an artist of the Italian school. He is recorded in Rome at the age of fourteen and later in Florence, Lucca and around Genoa. He also worked successively in Piamonte and Lombardy. There is ample documentation of his activity as a painter of frescoes and oils, an expert on northern Italian painting and a restor
The nude young woman sits on a white cloth with which she covers her lap. The artist paints her in profile and avoids showing her face. This is one of many nude studies made by this artist, and it may well be the most lauded of them all. Several of its characteristic aspects have been praised for their exquisite mastery, including the rich palette —especially the greens, which vary rhythmically— t
Trained from childhood at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, Mariano Sánchez specialized in landscapes and views. Contemporary documents reveal also a talent for miniatures and portraits, which took him to Lisbon in the service of the King of Portugal. In 1781, King Charles III commissioned him to paint a series of 118 vistas of ports, bays, islands, and arsenals in Spain. In 1803, for
María Tomasa Palafox (1780-1835), Marchioness of Villafranca, is shown wearing a white empire-style dress and sitting on a red silk damask armchair, with her feet on a cushion. She is painting a portrait of her husband, Francisco de Borja Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga, XI Marquis of Villafranca. The Marchioness received an enlightened education from her mother, the Countess of Montijo.