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The first documentation of Diego Velazquez´s Mars is from 1701-03, when it appeared in the inventory of paintings at the Torre de la Parada, the royal hunting pavilion on the outskirts of Madrid. The painting is cited along with Velázquez´s Aesop c.1638 (P01206) and Menippus 1639-40 (P01207). The three paintings have similar dimensions, and each are as tall as the Heraclitus, Democritus and
This drawing belongs to the Ajello Sketchbook, a group of fifty-nine unbound pencil drawings that were models for engraving to illustrate a descriptive calendar of sculptures that Philip V and his wife, Elizabeth of Farnesio, had gathered in the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.
The head of this young man with soft features is made of black marble with a highly polished face, while the bust is of white alabaster. Belonging to a production modelled on works by Nicolas Cordier (1567-1612), it comes from the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden, which was later owned and kept by Philip V at the Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.
This head carved from bigio morato marble is broken into two parts, vertically. Its restoration required several additions, both to finish various curls and to reconstruct the top of the head, where a relatively well-disguised piece of gray marble is visible. The incrusted eyes are of white marble with nero antico pupils. The base is of gray-veined white marble. The figure´s identity has var
In the 17th century, a total of thirteen Egyptian Idols from various Roman collections entered Philip V´s collection at the San Ildefonso Palace. Ajello drew all of them for the catalog that was never published, and thanks to his drawings, we know the appearance of the eight that have not survived. These were probably looted and destroyed by Napoleonic troops. Philip V purchased twelve from the le
This table`s exquisitely made top is based on a painting by Charles-Joseph Flipart (1721-1797) which is also in the Prado (P07824). The central scene depicts figures in a port, of which the two in the oriental style are based on works by Giambattista Tiepolo. The table was made by Italian craftsmen summoned to Madrid by Charles III to establish the Royal Hardstone Laboratory.
This table has the image of a painting of a seascape and its frame, back to front, as well as playing cards, various chips, a ruler, a hammer, a compass and other carpentry tools, two buckles, a key ring and various drawings over a touchstone or black Belgian marble background. The representation of the images is directly based on famous compositions by French painter Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), wh
A table with two images of paintings (a seascape and a landscape) on a background of touchstone or Belgian black marble. Various books, a checkerboard, a small cup and a bag have been haphazardly arranged around them. The representation of the images is directly based on famous compositions by French painter Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), whose work was much appreciated by Charles III and Charles IV.
This tabletop forms a pair with O00467. Both were made at the Royal Manufactory founded by Charles III in Naples in 1737. This piece of ebony furniture made by Gaspero Donnini has heads carved by Giovanni Morghen at its four corners. They allude to the four seasons. The legs end in horse´s hooves as part of an elegant naturalist décor, which is repeated in the decoration of the top, with ab
Commissioned by Pedro Tellez Girón, Duke of Osuna and Viceroy of Sicily (1574-1624). The German artist Jacopo di Gian Flasch made the Duke’s coat of arms, and Jacopo Ligozzi, the designer of the Florentine Grand-ducal hardstone workshops, the flower-filled vases.
This is rare type of tabletop that combines Roman Mannerist elements such as the border with pre-Baroque ones such as the exuberant floral and foliate motif that fills the centre. This motif replaces the central alabaster oval to be found in other compositions.
Two men play skittles among Roman ruins in a setting that recalls Venetian view paintings or vedute. The scene is framed by a border with fruit, musical and scientific instruments, books and a tray with a towel and a silver jug. The base follows the Neapolitan style of the first half of the century. The pair to this table is in the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon.
Un óvalo grande de alabastro orientale, sobre un rectángulo de paragone con motivos florales (en giallo antico, rosso antico, semesanto y portasanta). Presenta una cenefa con cartelas sobre un fondo de giallo antico con incrustaciones de rosso antico, lumachella, africano y alabastro listato. La tipología de esta obra romana es del mismo género que la de otros ejemplares conservados en el Museo de
This tabletop has a geometrical decoration with a large central oval framed by two volutes. The border combines ovals and diamonds with floral motifs. A similar type of decoration is to be found on the walls of a number of seventeeth-century Roman chapels.
This is one of the first works made in the workshops which the Bourbon monarch Charles, future King of Spain, founded in Naples in 1737, employing Florentine craftsmen and directed by Francesco Ghinghi. The King and Queen were so pleased with this table that they commissioned a companion piece. The top is richly decorated with inlay of different hardstones, carefully chosen to imitate the effects
This tabletop has a decoration of floral motifs, insects and birds typical of Florentine manufacture of the early seventeenth century, in contrast to the earlier more geometrical style. This new approach was based on designs by Jacopo Ligozzi, court painter to the Grand Duke Francesco II de’ Medici. Innocenzo Massimo gave this tabletop to Philip IV when he was bishop of Catania.
This tabletop has a border with large, lapis lazuli cartouches surrounding the arms of the 9th Admiral of Castile, Alfonso Enríquez de Cabrera, and of his mother, Vittoria Colonna. Enríquez de Cabrera was Viceroy of Naples between 1644 and 1646, when he must have acquired this tabletop. The coat-of-arms is less delicately executed than the border. The base dates from the nineteenth c
This tabletop belonged to Rodrigo Calderon, secretary to Philip III, who seems to have acquired it by somewhat unethical means. Its decoration of military motifs suggests that it is related to the victory at Lepanto. After Calderon´s death in 1621 it was acquired by Philip IV at the posthumous sale of his possessions. The table is supported by four bronze lions, three of them commissioned by Velaz
