Page 21 - Contemporary Art and Old Masters
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José de Ribera, Jacob’s Dream, Oil on canvas, 179 x 233 cm, 1639, ©
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
Spanish artists now trained and worked abroad: towards painting, these collections also include
in Rome at the beginning of the century, and outstanding examples of sculpture, the decorative
from the mid-century onwards in Paris, the new arts and works on paper, from antiquity to the
world capital of art. The nationalistic fervour 19th century.
that characterised the entire century, reflected Since its foundation in 1819, the Museo del Prado
by Spanish artists in canvases celebrating the has played a key role in the evolution of art
country’s peoples, landscapes and history, and history. It has been crucial for the rediscovery
the Disentailment of ecclesiastical possessions of the Spanish Primitives and emblematic figures
which, when they entered the Prado from the such as El Greco, and for positioning Velázquez
Museo de la Trinidad, significantly enriched as the greatest figure in the Spanish pictorial
the original holdings from the Royal Collection, Parnassus, while its galleries have inspired some
are all reflected in the Museum’s collections, of the most avant-garde painters of the past 150
which terminate in 1881, the year of Picasso’s years. We are proud to show visitors this great
birth. Furthermore, while primarily oriented artistic patrimony.
WORLD of ART 21
