Preparatory sketch for a work possibly intended for the private chapel of the Infante Don Antonio Pascual in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. The composition is very similar to the Last Supper in the Royal Palace of Madrid painted by Maella in 1794.
Meléndez’s works are characterized by his interest in familiar, everyday realities, which he places in the immediate foreground as if seeking direct contact with the viewer. And yet, in the context of this desire to create a repertoire of common foodstuffs and utensils, we occasionally find a more distinguished and decorative object, less popular than its everyday kitchen surroundings. Here
A domestic scene set in classical antiquity. An old man and a youth recline on divans while an attractive young woman plays music on a double flute. Both the clothing and the setting suggest the Greek world, and the motives and clothing are rigorously faithful to archeological discoveries made in the mid nineteenth century. Despite being Dutch by birth, Sir Lawrence Alma cultivated an eclectic per
On a table partially covered by a green tablecloth, the painter has placed a white cloth, delicate gold-worked jars and glasses that reflect the light, a dish with ham, bread and a large basket of peaches and several types of grapes. There is also a half-peeled lemon, typical of Nordic still-lifes. In the background, there is a large red curtain and a gallery with columns. Charged with symbolic an
Painted for the base of the main altarpiece of San Esteban in Valencia (P00838, P00839, P00840, P00841 and P00842), Inspired by Leonardo, both in the definition of the space and in the eloquent expressiveness of the apostles, it also shows Juanes’s close relationship with Raphael. In keeping with traditional iconography in Spain, he focussed the scene on Jesus, serene and triumphant at the moment
Luis Meléndez distinguished himself as the greatest bodegón, or still-life, painter in late eighteenth-century Spain. By this time, the popularity of the genre had declined in Spain and was not practiced by any of Meléndez’ contemporaries at court. Even so, Meléndez painted over one hundred bodegones in his lifetime, leading art historians to infer that he took a person
Se ve un plato, del tipo “castañuela”, de borde historiado -siguiendo un diseño popular- que posiblemente posea un origen talaverano; ejerce el papel de recipiente desbordado por las ciruelas, algunas en ramo, que lo colman. A un lado, sobre una servilleta doblada, una rosca de pan refleja con acierto el impacto de la luz; al otro, tres higos rellenan el vacío de la izquierda, procurando equilibra
Two splendid sea breams play the leading role here. They are surrounded by lesser motifs, including oranges, a kitchen towel, a head of garlic, and packet of what is probably spice, two terracotta bowls from Alcorcón, a long-handled pan, a mortar whose pestle leans into the background, and a cruet that participates in this work’s careful study of light as a means of defining volumes, divers
The man in the portrait, wearing his palace uniform, holds in his left hand a bundle of “royal orders”. The painting follows the style of portraits of professionals that López worked on in his years at the service of Fernando VII, in which he stressed the sitter’s job through the tools of his trade.
Cardinal Fernando de’ Medici gave this canvas to the Minorite seminary of San Francisco de Paula, the saint who kneels in the foreground. The seminary, in Alcalá de Henares, was founded by the influential wife of Bartolomé de Santoyo, Keeper of the King’s Jewels and Royal Secretary. The canvas reflects the new style developed by the painter Santi di Tito in Florence from 1575 onwards
This painting narrates an event from chapter 27 of Genesis, in which Jacob tricks his father, Isaac, in order to obtain the blessing that should rightfully go to his older brother, Esau. Jacob’s mother, Rebecca, helps him dress in Esau’s clothes and cover his arm with a sheepskin that resembles his brother’s abundant body hair. He then takes food to his elderly, blind father, Isaac, thus inducing
Miguel Parra was one of the most important artists in Valencia during the first half of the nineteenth century. he held leading posts in artistic institutions in that city and añsp in the court, to which he was brought by his brother-in-law, Vicente López. He specialized in large flower paintings with great decorative density derived from local and foreign models from the second half
The Holy Family is shown indoors, in front of a window thought which a costal landscape is visible. The Christ Child stands on a sumptuous carpet and plays with his mother. Saint Joseph holds an apple —an allusion to the Garden of Eden-that symbolizes Mary´s condition as the new Eve. An Angel crowns the Virgin as Queen of Heaven while another offers her a basket of flowers like those resting on th
The artist of this panel is traditionally referred to as the Master of the Luna Family, whom Post first identified in 1933 as one of the two painters who produced the altarpiece for the chapel of Saint James the Apostle in Toledo Cathedral, founded by Don Álvaro de Luna. It was the latter`s daughter, María de Luna, Duchess of El Infantado, who contracted the altarpiece on 21 December
This work entered the Prado from the Museo de la Trinidad and its attribution to Loarte is based mainly on stylistic affinities. Part of its considerable interest lies in its capacity to reveal the artist´s skill in several of that period´s most important genres. Beyond its religious narrative, it contains various still-life details executed with the meticulous precision characteristic
In the foreground of this painting, a loaf of bread rests on a knife, its foreshortened handle jutting out past the edge of the wooden surface on which the various objects are arranged. Next to it sits a coarse, glazed earthenware jug, which could hold milk or some kind of preserved food. The style of the jug recalls pottery traditionally produced in Alcorcón and Camporreal (towns within the provi