Spanish Portrait from El Greco to Picasso
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Spanish Portrait from El Greco to Picasso Details
About the Author Javier Portus is a curator and the head of the department of Spanish Painting (until 1700) at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Read more
Reviews
This book is the English translation of the Prado museum's major exhibition on the topic in 2004. Many important loans (from over 30 different institutions) made this Madrid exhibition extremely historically important. Two of the most notable loans were by Francisco Goya---the Hispanic Society of America's "Portrait of the Duchess of Alba," (1797; dressed as a "maja" in black, seen on the cover of the book) and the Alba family's "Portrait of the Duchess of Alba" (1795; in white). It was the first time these two paintings were seen together and the first time the paintings had ever been loaned. They hung on either side of the entrance to the gallery in which visitors were mesmerized the most famous Spanish portrait of all time, Velazquez's "Las Meninas."This book does a wonderful job of telling the fascinating stories of Spanish portraiture and is appropriate for casual readers and students alike. Ten scholarly essays cover topics such as Velazquez's influence on Goya and the portraits of El Greco. The book is beautifully illustrated with color reproductions of many of the most well known and most important Spanish portraits in existence. This is a "must have" for anyone who is interested in Spanish painting or portraiture in general.