El Museo del Prado en Filipinas, Part II

El Museo del Prado en Filipinas, the month-long photographic exhibition of some of Museo Nacional del Prado’s greatest masterpieces. 54 life-size reproductions of works from the 12^th to the 19^th centuries, each with very informative description in both English and Spanish, are on display in Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati City starting on April 22, 2017.

There are four collections of painting included in the El Museo del Prado en Filipinas exhibit: Spanish, Italian, Flemish, and Other Schools. This entry includes painting from the Italian Painting and Flemish Schools. Spanish Painting and Other Painting appeared in the previous entry. To read it, please proceed here.

 

The content that follows is from the exhibit or from the El Museo del Prado en Filipinas booklet. I just took photos of the life-size photographic reproductions of artworks on display.

 

The Prado Museum, History and Collections

In 1819, King Ferdinand VII inaugurated the Royal Museum of Painting, origin of The Prado Museum today, in a grand neo-classical building his grandfather, Charles III, had ordered constructed at the end of the 18^th century for a Natural History Museum.

The Spanish royal collection forms the nucleus of the Prado and reflects the long tradition of interest in the arts by Spanish monarchy to embellish palaces and residences, for diplomatic purposes or also to decorate diverse religious institutions under royal patronage.

In 1872, the museum incorporated the religious art works of the Trinity Museum created from the desentailment laws in 1835 – 1836, and in 1971, the 19^th century works from the Modern Art Museum. Additionally, the Prado has continued to expand its collection through acquisitions, donations, and other incorporations.

Today The Prado Museum safeguards more than 8,200 paintings; this exhibit shows 54 of its most important masterpieces.

El Prado en calles

El Prado en calles started in 2011 in Dominican Republic and in its sever-year existence, it has visited Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, and Equatorial Guinea. In 2017, the exhibition arrives in the Philippines.

Reproductions of masterpieces by Goya, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Raphael, and the Philippines’ very own Juan Luna, among others, are expected to attract the attention of Filipino art lovers.

El Museo del Prado en Filipinas is presented by the Embassy of Spain, Instituto Cervantes, and The Prado Museum.

 

Pintura Italiana (Italian Painting)

The Italian school is the second most important within the Prado’s collection in terms of number of works and quality.

Most of these works came from the royal collection and were directly commissioned by the Spanish monarchs from artists in Italy or were painted at the Spanish court by Italian artists. The core group has subsequently increased through further purchases and donations.

Although the 14^th and 15^th centuries (the Trecento and Quattrocento) are less extensively represented in the Museum, there are outstanding works from this period by Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Antonello da Messina, and Mantegna.

Among artists working in the 16^th century (Cinquecento), the Prado has notable works by Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Correggio, and Parmigiano. The best represented school, however, is the Venetian, with paintings by Tintoretto, Veronese, and above all, Titian. The works executed by the latter for Charles V and Philip II notably influenced the entire course of subsequent Spanish painting.

Italian Baroque painting includes important examples of three preeminent trends of that time: the tenebrist naturalism of Caravaggio and his followers; Annibale Carracci and Guido Reni’s Bolognese classicism; and the decorative late Baroque represented by Luca Giordano and Giambattista Tiepolo.

 

Pintura Flamenca (Flemish Painting)

Flemish painting from the 15^th century to the 17^th century occupies a very important place within the Museo del Prado collection, being the second school interms of number of works (more than 1,150) and the third with regard to the number on display, most of them from the royal collection.

The marriage of Princess Juana de Castilla, daughter of the Catholic Kings, to Philip the Fair, son of the Emperor Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, meant that their eldest son, Charles of Ghent, became Charles I of Spain in 1517 and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1519. At this point, the Low Countries were annexed to the Spanish crown, and the Spanish monarchs revealed enormous interest in the painting being produced in this region, acquiring works by the principal 15^th century artists such as Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, and Hans Memling.

Thanks to the particular interest of Philip II, who acquired a large number of works by Jheronimus Bosch, the Prado has the most important collection of paintings by that artist in the world. Other leading 16^th-century Flemish artists in the collection include Joachim Patinir, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Gerard David, and the portraitist Anthonis Mor, who worked directly for Philip II and his court.

In 1581, the United Provinces (modern-day Holland) broke away from Spain while the Southern Netherlands continued under Spanish rule. The latter region was home to Peter Paul Rubens, the greatest Flemish artist active in the first half of the 17^th century, who visited Spain on two occasions and produced numerous works for the Spanish court. The Prado houses around 90 paintings by Rubens as well as by his followers Van Dyck and Jordaens. Other important Flemish artists from this period are Jan “Velvet” Brueghel and David Teniers, both well represented in the Museum.

 

Visit the El Museo del Prado en Filipinas (The Prado Museum in the Philippines) Exhibit at Plaza Roma, Intramuros, Manila until July 31, 2017.

For more information, please visit www.museodelprado.es.

• El Museo del Prado en Filipinas,
• El Museo del Prado en Filipinas Intramuros Manila,
• El Prado en calles,
• El Prado en calles Philippines Filipinas,
• Instituto Cervantes Manila,
• Museo Nacional del Prado,
• The Prado Museum,
• The Prado Museum exhibit,
• The Prado Museum in the Philippines