The female perspective

Detail of 'An artist', by Aurelia Navarro — The Female Perspective

In recent years, the Prado Museum has shown a strong commitment to highlighting the role of women in the art world whether as creators, patrons, collectors, or as subjects of the male gaze. This has been achieved through different initiatives including monographic exhibitions and guided tours of its permanent collection, as well as scientific meetings, conferences, lectures, and specialized scholarships in its Study Centre. We are now bringing this experience to our website under the title The Female Perspective, with the goal of sharing what has been accomplished and to encourage new research.

Timeline **The Female Perspective** Enter

Art by women artists

107 objects

*Pietro Manna, Physician from Cremona*

(1557)

Lucia Anguissola

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*The Birth of Saint John the Baptist*

(ca. 1635)

Artemisia Gentileschi

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*Isabel de Valois holding a Portrait of Philip II*

(1561 - 1565)

Sofonisba Anguissola

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*Female hand. Detail from a portrait*

(Eighteenth century)

Attributed to Herbertina van der Heim

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*Portrait of Queen Anne of Austria*

(ca. 1573)

Sofonisba Anguissola

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*Table with a Cloth, Salt Cellar, Gilt Tazza, Pie, Jug, Porcelain Dish with Olives, and Roast Fowl*

(ca. 1611)

Clara Peeters

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*Still Life with Fish, a Candle, Artichokes, Crab and Prawns*

(1611)

Clara Peeters

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*Anna Escher von Muralt*

(ca. 1800)

Angelica Kauffmann

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*El Cid*

(1879)

Rosa Bonheur

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The art work of the day

Portrait of Queen Anne of Austria

Sofonisba Anguissola

(1573)

Queen Anne of Austria (1549-1580), Philip II’s fourth and last wife, is portrayed in three-quarter view against a neutral background on which the shadow of her silhouette is cast. She wears a black gown and a white headdress, the ends of which hang down over her bodice and are joined by a brooch concealed by her right hand. Peeping out from beneath the round sleeves of her gown are ruched satin or silk undersleeves that illustrate the different textures and tonal variations of the apparently monochrome black of Spanish court costume of the period. The sole exceptions are the lace of her ruff collar and cuffs.Unlike the solemn and representative contemporary portraits of Anne of Austria painted by Alonso Sánchez Coello (c. 1531-1588) – for example that in the Museo Lázaro Galdiano in...

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Women Artists

Picture of Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun — Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun

Contemplating the possibility of alternative art histories from a critical perspective allows us to understand that this field is alive, in constant transformation, and in dialogue with contemporary shifts in thought.

Since what is not named does not exist, this section is devoted to naming each of the women artists who are part of the Museum's collections. Some works come from royal collections and have been in the Museum since its opening like the ones by Artemisia Gentileschi, Sofonisba Anguissola, or Clara Peeters. Others have been incorporated through donations, such as "El Cid" by Rosa Bonheur, or via recent acquisitions, like the work of Maria Luisa Puiggener, aimed to complete the artistic production narrative within the Prado Museum’s chronological framework.

This virtual archive, that echoes Griselda Pollock's Virtual Feminist Museum, contributes to charting and making visible new paths in the knowledge and research concerning our collections.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

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The Female Perspective Project

Tras mostrar la decisiva aportación de las mujeres de las casas reales europeas de los siglos XVI y XVII, el Museo Nacional del Prado propone, hasta el 26 de mayo, un nuevo acercamiento a su colección con la tercera edición del itinerario “El Prado en femenino”. En esta ocasión, la propuesta se traslada al siglo XVIII para descubrir el legado de la promotora artística que más significativamente contribuyó al engrandecimiento de la antigua Colección Real y, en consecuencia, del actual Museo: la reina Isabel de Farnesio (1692-1766).

Su legado —del que proceden cerca de quinientas obras conservadas hoy en el Museo y expuestas en la mitad de sus salas— no solo hizo posible la llegada de creaciones tan emblemáticas como el Apostolado de Rubens, San Sebastián de Guido Reni, La Virgen, el Niño y san Juan de Correggio, la Sibila de Velázquez o el Sueño de Jacob de José de Ribera; también propició la formación del más sobresaliente conjunto de escultura clásica que custodia el Museo del Prado, con el Grupo de San Ildefonso o El fauno del cabrito, entre otras, y abrió las puertas al ingreso de las obras de Murillo en la Colección Real, cuyo boceto de la obra Santa Ana dando una lección a la Virgen se exhibe por primera vez en el Prado tras su reciente identificación en el Museo de Pau (Francia) durante una operación de inventario.

The Female Perspective III thematic route

Picture of Queen Isabella Farnese by Louis-Michel van Loo — *Queen Isabella Farnese* by Louis-Michel van Loo.

Picture of an Instagram post — Social media

Picture of Digital resources — Digital resources

Picture of the documentary series — The documentary series

Thematic Routes and Exhibitions

Since 2016 when the Prado presented its first exhibition dedicated to a female painter, Clara Peeters, the Museum has proposed various thematic routes and exhibitions to highlight the role of women in the art world. In some cases, the focus has been on gender issues like in the exhibition Uninvited Guests. On other occasions, the emphasis has been given to works that were previously hidden, like in the case of the exhibition La mirada del otro with the work "El Cid" by Rosa Bonheur.

Picture of the thematic route The Female Perspective — **Thematic Route**
The Female Perspective

12/14/2022 - 04/09/2023

Picture of the thematic route The Female Perspective II — **Thematic Route**
The Female Perspective II

05/08/2024 - 09/08/2024

Picture of the thematic route The Female Perspective III — **Thematic Route**
The Female Perspective III

12/01/2025 - 05/24/2026

Picture of the exhibition Uninvited Guests — **Exhibition**
Uninvited Guests. Episodes on Women, Ideology and the Visual Arts in Spain (1833-1931)

10/06/2020 - 03/14/2021

Picture of the exhibition A Tale of Two Women Painters — **Exhibition**
A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana

10/22/2019 - 02/02/2020

Picture of the exhibition The Art of Clara Peeters — **Exhibition**
The Art of Clara Peeters

10/25/2016 - 02/19/2017

Picture of the exhibition The Carmen Sánchez Bequest — **Exhibition**
The Carmen Sánchez Bequest. The Ultimate Lesson

03/23/2021 - 10/24/2021

Picture of the exhibition Doce artistas en el Museo del Prado — **Exhibition**
Doce artistas en el Museo del Prado

05/09/2007 - 07/15/2007

Picture of the thematic route The Other’s Gaze — **Thematic Route**
The Other’s Gaze. Spaces of difference

06/14/2017 - 09/10/2017

Lectures

The lectures that the Prado offers each Wednesday and Saturday as well as those inserted in different programs, have frequently delved into a knowledge of cultural history in tune with gender studies, with female artistic agency in different historical periods, and have cultivated the knowledge of female artists that have a strong presence in the Museum’s collections.

A frame from the lecture by Estrella de Diego — **Highlighted lecture** *A vueltas con el canon y los museos*
Estrella de Diego

**Lecture**
Reinas y pintoras coleccionistas en España en el siglo XIX

13 November 2020

Amaya Alzaga

**Lecture**
Ellas mismas. Autorretratos de pintoras

11 March 2016

Ángeles Caso

**Lecture**
Del ángel del hogar a las pioneras. Representaciones de la mujer en el Romanticismo español

7 March 2018

Asunción Cardona

**Lecture**
Sofonisba Anguissola y la libertad femenina

18 December 2019

Bea Porqueres

**Lecture**
Las mujeres y las artes

6 March 2019

Beatriz Blasco Esquivias

**Lecture**
Rosa Bonheur, mujer y artista libre

2 December 2020

Encina Villanueva Lorenzana

**Lecture**
Las eternas olvidadas

5 March 2020

Victoria Combalía

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Voices of the Prado

A bilingual documentary archive (Spanish-English) that captures the intra-historical accounts of female workers and collaborators who have dedicated daily efforts to the preservation and transformation of an institution as iconic and complex as the Prado Museum.

It includes a wealth of first-hand experiences spanning from the 1940s to 2019 that are inseparable from the broader context, and that reflect the evolution of Spanish society and politics during this period. See Voices of the Prado

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Montserrat Sabán Godoy

1977-2016

Management Technician

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Manuela Mena Marqués

1978-2019

Head of the Department of Conservation of 18th Century Painting and Goya

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Alicia Quintana Martínez

1983-2007

Head of the Education Service

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Conchi Montero Velasco

1970-2014

General Services Assistant

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Nuria de Miguel Poch

1989-Present

General Secretary of the Friends of the Museo del Prado Foundation

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
María Teresa Dávila Álvarez

1982-2013

Restorer

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Rocío Dávila Álvarez

1974-2015

Restorer

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Inmaculada Echeverría Elvira

1981-Present

Head of the Technical Office

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Carmen Garrido Pérez

1982-2012

Head of the Technical Office

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
María Teresa González Escolar

1990-2013

General Services Assistant

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Ana Gutiérrez Márquez

1975-2018

Senior Technician of Museums (Conservation of 19th Century Painting)

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Felícitas Martínez Pozuelo

1971-2018

Administrative Technician

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
María Merino Cabrera

1977-2004

Clerical Support

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Mercedes Orihuela Maeso

1975-Present

Conservator of the Service of Deposits

**VOICES OF THE PRADO**
Pilar Silva Maroto

1997-2017

Head of the Department of Conservation of Flemish Painting and the Northern Schools up to 1700

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Conversations with Female Creators

The museum fosters spaces for conversations with contemporary female creators, art critics, curators, historians, and gallery owners through activities in various formats such as roundtables, meetings, or in-gallery explanations that bring new light and perspectives about artworks in the collections. These conversations share a common goal: to offer new narratives and to highlight the relevance of the learning experiences in the Prado Museum in today’s world starting with the artists that preceded us/them and their creations.