Page 18 - Contemporary Art and Old Masters

Juan de Flandes, The Crucifixion, Oil on panel, 123 x 169 cm. 1509 – 1518
© Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

This type of instinctive collecting also resulted the most emotional and sensual aspects. Titian
in gaps and explains why some periods are less was followed by other Venetians (Veronese,
well represented than others, either because Tintoretto) and by artists who took up their
they were not of interest, for example the Italian legacy, including the Flemish painters Peter Paul
Primitives, or for historical reasons, as with Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.
17th-century Dutch painting.
The first painter collected by the Spanish Their influence was crucial for the flowering
monarchy and the founding pillar of the Royal of Spanish painting in the 17th century, led by
Collection is Titian. This choice had decisive Velazquez. This school is the lynchpin of the old
consequences for royal collecting and for the very Royal Collection but it is not the only one, and
evolution of Spanish painting. other painters and schools were added from
the 16th century onwards. Philip II admired
By opting for the great champion of colour over 15th-century Flemish painting, hence the
the Florentine and Roman painters who upheld presence of works by Van der Weyden, Memling
the primacy of disegno, the Spanish monarchs and above all Bosch, while still more important
focussed on a type of painting which emphasised was Philip IV, who not only commissioned works

18 WORLD of ART