Museo del Prado

With no class last week I had a chance to visit several famous sites in Madrid. The first was the Prado Museum (Museo del Prado), which is renowned as being the largest art gallery in the world. It houses more than 8,600 paintings, of which they exhibit less than 2,000 because of lack of space available. It has the world's finest collections of works by Spain's Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya, as well as of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch among others. I have included a few of the most famous works along with explanations compliments of www.spanisharts.com.


The Shootings of May 3rd (Francisco de GOYA)
(Los Fusilamientos del 3 de Mayo)
Painted: 1814.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 104.72" X 135.82"
The picture was painted by commission of the King together with "The Charge of the Mamelukes" to perpetuate the Madrid people´s stand against the forces of Napoleon. Possibly they were made from sketches drawn by witnesses at the shootings. Both the night and symmetrical composition of the subjects emphasize the drama: those being shot with their faces looking ahead, filled with feeling, and the soldiers from behind, depicting evil's machines.


The Clothed Maja (Francisco de GOYA)
(La Maja Vestida)
Painted 1797-98.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 37.52" X 74.80"
It repeats the naked Maja's composition, both in structure and in the model's position. But changes are clear in colours and general atmosphere. Goya is believed to have used a different model, more stylized in this case.


The Naked Maja (Francisco de GOYA)
(La Maja Desnuda)
Painted 1797 / 98.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 38.18" X 74.80"
At first it was called "gypsies", matching the clothed Maja. It creates a new nudity form, later followed by other painters, specially in France. Speculations about models for this work have been very numerous: nowadays it's believed that he used several women, ones for the face and others for the body. Goya's use of light is really splendid, obtaining an intimate and tinged atmosphere.


The Maids of Honour (Diego VALÁZQUEZ de Silva)
(Las Meninas)
Painted around 1656-57.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 125" X 108.6"
This painting is considered one of the worlds greatest works of art , the secret is in creating something revealing in an everyday scene. The painter of "the air" reflects his own workday: in the mirror on the far wall is the reflection of the King and Queen , which is the theme of the painting he is working on, the Princess is looking at her parents, surrounded by her aids and the loyal family dog near by.


The Garden of Earthly Delights (Hieronymus BOSCH)
(El Jardin de las Delicias)
Painted: 1500.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 81.1" X 151.9"
An exceptional trilogy, a prodigy in myths and mundane traditions with imagination, plagued with a climate of fantasies that seem inexhaustible. It is a painting that has successive situations that beg the onlookers´ contemplations.


The Three Graces (Peter Paul RUBENS)
(Las Tres Gracias)
ORIGINAL SIZE: 87" X 123.6"
Represents a group of three women, nudes in the forest, which is inspired by models of ancient times of classical Italian culture, a common characteristic of Rubens' works. Possibly a later work of the master, where he shows a modification by adding turpentine to his paint, that implies more fluidity to his colour tones.


Adam (Albrecht DÜRER)
(Adán)
Painted: 1507.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 82.2"x31.8"
This diptych, which comprises Adam on the left and Eve on the right, was painted by Dürer on his return to Nuremburg after his second trip to Italy. The composition of both subjects is similar. He has Adam standing motionless, holding a branch of the tree of the forbidden fruit in his left hand. It is interesting to note the impressive distribution of light and shade in his face, the angle of his head and the detail of his hair.


Eve (Albrecht DÜRER)
(Eva)
Painted: 1507.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 82.2"x31.4"
In the composition of Eve although similar to that of Adam, the figure of her is more dynamic, owing to the forward position of her right leg as the snake offers her the forbidden fruit.
On the sign which hangs on the branch of the tree, you can read "Albert Dürer, German, painted this after the childbirth of the Virgin in the year of our Lord 1507"