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
This panel is one of the models designed by Rubens for a series of tapestries on the life of the Consul Publius Decius(4th century BC). It offers an extremely eloquent depiction of this Roman hero’s moral example: following a prediction in a dream, he stoically sacrificed his own life in exchange for his people’s final victory over the Latins.
Of the artists who painted war scenes in the 17th century, none was as interested as David Teniers II in capturing images from behind the lines. With his customary tactile rigor, he depicts a plethora of military objects lying in the foreground with no apparent order and a handful of figures hanging cuirasses or helping their colleagues to remove their footgear. At the same time, he draws on one o
This singular composition, which can be dated 1775, was painted at the height of the 18th century, although, in aesthetic terms, the Baroque was already in decline as it entered its final phase. Its decorative conception echoes the refinement of the rococo, although it draws much of its material from the anaglyphic repertory of the mature Renaissance—conveniently polished—when artists were recover
The child in the portrait appears to be the Infanta María Isabel (1743-1749), the third daughter of Charles of Bourbon and Maria Amalia of Saxony, whose birth was received with special joy after the death of her two elder siblings. For this reason, she was portrayed on several occasions. She appears here as an heir being crowned by an angelic trumpeter.
The painting belongs to a series of six paintings on the story of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, (P000951, P000952, P000953, P000954, P000955, P000956) by Antonio del Castillo (1616-1668), the leading figure within Baroque painting in Córdoba. Castillo was among the artists to introduce landscape painting into Andalusia, as evident in these scenes in which the natural setting acquires notabl
A sketch for a ceiling at Madrid´s Royal Palace, painted in 1794. Bayeu used grisaille technique: a monochrome depiction in shades of gray and chestnut brown. The Spanish Monarchy is represented by an imposing matron wearing a helmet and surrounded by allegorical figures that constitute a group of considerable iconographic interest for which Bayeu had to conscientiously study the treatises then cu
Scattered around the room we see a large drum and pieces of several sets of armour –one of them still on its stand– and pistols and harquebusses hanging on the wall, on which a flag is also draped. In the background, several men, perhaps soldiers in civilian clothes, are smoking and drinking. Abraham Teniers repeats, with few variants, some of the famous compositions of his brother, the famous Dav
This painting celebrates the freeing of the Swiss town of Constance from its besiegement by Swedish troops under General Horn, who sought to cut off communication between imperial troops and Spanish soldiers at La Valtellina and the Duchy of Milan. Along with The Storming of Rheinfelden (P637) and The Capture of Breisach (P859), this is one of the three paintings at the Hall of Realms that commemo
Saint Jerome was meditating in solitude when an angel sounding the trumpet of the Last Judgment appeared to him. This was a particularly popular subject with seventeenth-century artists and Alonso Cano made use of it to show his skills in the description of the angel’s foreshortened body as well as his interest in depicting the colourful, luminous landscape that opens out on the left.
This panel inlaid with mother-of-pearl executed in New Spain is part of a group of twenty-four pieces that narrate the capture of Mexico.
Christ appears above a rainbow with his feet resting on the globe of the Earth and his arms raised. He is flanked by Mary and Saint John the Baptist, and besides them, the twelve apostles. Two trumpeting angels announce the Last Judgement, which ties in with the lower scene of the resurrection of the dead and their reward or punishment for earthly acts. This representation of Christ resurrected as
Saint Jerome is depicted meditating on the Last Judgment, as indicated by the print in the book, which reproduces a model by Albrecht Dürer. He is surrounded by various vanitas, such as the skull resting on some books and the stone with which he struck his chest. A pen and inkwell indicate his dedication to writing. Jerome was one of the most popular Saints in baroque Spain. His iconography m
This is a traditional scene from the iconography of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. It depicts his meeting with Ariadne on the island of Naxos. The god rides a chariot pulled by lions, and helps his future wife, who was abandoned by Theseus, to climb aboard (Ovid, Metamorphoses, VIII). They are accompanied by Bacchus´s habitual retinue of bacchants, satyrs and menads, ledy by Silenus on a donkey.
These paintings (P524, P525) decorated two cassoni and were commissioned in 1496 in Bologna by Ludovico da Sala from Guido Aspertini for the betrothal of his daughter Angelica to Giovan Battista Bolognetti. It is generally agreed that Guido’s brother, Amico, participated in their execution, which would explain the quotations from classical statuary. Both scenes from classical Rome contained lesson