A portrait of King Charles III (1716-1788), son of Philip V and Elizabeth of Farnesio, shortly before he died in Madrid on December 14, 1788. The king appears in a royal hunting preserve, either around El Escorial, or between the El Pardo Palace and the mountains of Madrid. He is dressed as a hunter, with the sashes of the Orders of Carlos III, Saint Januarius and the Holy Ghost, as well as the Go
This preparatory sketch for the ceiling of Charles III’s former bedroom at the Royal Palace in Madrid depicts the Institution of the Order of Charles III following the birth of the King’s first male grandchild. A personification of Monarchy holds the newborn Infante in its arms, and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the Order, is depicted at the centre of the composition.
This image of King Charles III was paired with a portrait of his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony (P2201), although the image of the queen was not painted in her presence. Instead, it was invented on the basis of other likenesses, as she died before the artist was able to paint her.Mengs’s effigie of Charles III became the monarch’s official image and was therefore the object of various replicas. One
A solemn prototype of the effigy of Charles III, who stands in armour in front of a purple hanging and a column, traditional symbols of royal power. Replica of P02200, on the occasion of the foundation of the Royal Order of Carlos III.
During the rule of Charles III, King of Spain (1759–1788), the rigorous court protocol established by the Habsburg Charles V was relaxed, and a broader circle of privileged people was allowed to enter the king’s room. Already under Charles V there were ordinary and solemn public meals, in which he would dine before a varied yet select representation of court members. Phillip IV chose not to follow
Dressed in blue, a Bourbon colour, Charles wears the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Saint-Esprit. The lily is a dynastic emblem while the jasmine, anemones, narcissi, pinks and roses are attributes of virtues and pleasures. Together with the book containing verses by Lucian, Columella and Virgil (his Eclogue IV on a new Golden Age), these objects are used to present Charles in his transition f
This portrait of a young Charles III is typical of Ranc´s portraits of children. It shows the future monarch as an Infante, years before his departure for Parma and Naples to occupy thrones his mother had assiduously arranged for him. Four other examples of this portrait are found in the Prado, Palace of El Pardo, Royal Palace of Madrid and the Royal Palace of La Granja. They demonstrate the syste
The young sitter, here slightly older than in the portrait of him in his study also painted by Ranc (Museo del Prado), is shown with the symbols of military power: a helmet, a sword resting on a large column base, and a red mantle. The Golden Fleece and the French Order of the Saint-Esprit, represented by the dove of the Holy Spirit, announce his historic destiny.
A preparatory sketch for the painting of the same name, which has disappeared from the Museo del Prado’s collections. It commemorated the ransom of a large number of captives in Algiers in 1768 by order of Charles III. The memory of this king was exalted during the reign of his grandson, Ferdinand VII, as a model for the prestige of the monarchy
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.
On August 10, 1759, Ferdinand VI died without a descendant. As a result, his stepbrother Charles, then King of Naples and Sicily, inherited the Spanish throne. The first of seven children of Philip V and his second wife Isabel Farnese, Charles VII had reigned for a period of almost 24 years in Naples. In 1738, he had married the Pricess María Amalia of Saxony, and their thirteen children we
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
La obra representa a Pedro de Medici (1554-1604), hijo de Cosme I que mantuvo estrechos vínculos con España, estando presente en Madrid durante los reinados de Felipe II y Felipe III. La identificación del personaje parece confirmarse por el enorme parecido del retratado en la obra del Museo del Prado con el que de don Pedro conserva la Galería de los Uffizi, debido a Santi de Tito y fechado entre
In this half-length portrait, the young man wears a red cap and holds a musical instrument that combine features of both the vihuela and the violin. While only partially visible, its fretted neck suggests it belongs to the family of the bowed vihuela or viola da gamba, but its bow and part of the pegbox are closer in appearance to those of the violin family, suggesting it is a hybrid of both. Thes
Stylistically very close to Titian, this well painted canvas is not in fact by his hand. The sitter’s elevated social status is indicated by his carefully painted clothes while the inscription states that he was 37 when this portrait was executed.