Page 23 - Contemporary Art and Old Masters

a flared form that integrated them more fully into the
building as a whole.
The seven new galleries of 17th-century Flemish
painting complete the installation in the Museum of
one of the finest collections of 15th- to 17th-century
Flemish painting in existence, largely based on
Spanish royal collecting.

Together with Italy, Flanders (modern-day Belgium)
was the principal centre for the production of painting
in Europe at that period. The new galleries include
key works by Rubens, Jan Breughel, Clara Peeters and
David Teniers, among other artists. Room 76, which is
devoted to Dutch painting, now displays Rembrandt’s
Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes and important
works by representative artists of that school
including Salomon de Bray and Gabriel Metsu.

FLEMISH PAINTING

From approximately 1430 to 1650 the area that
comprises modern-day Belgium was one of the
principal centres for the production of painting
Rubens, The Three Graces, Oil on panel, 220,5 x 182 cm, ca. 1635
in Europe, together with Italy. Art produced in © Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
this region is referred to as Flemish. The seven
galleries that have now opened to the public admired works. David Teniers (1610-1690) is also
on the second floor complete the Museum’s now the subject of an entire gallery (Room 77).
display of 17th-century Flemish painting, most
of it produced in Antwerp, complementing the Rooms 81 and 82 display paintings of kitchen scenes and
content of the galleries on the lower and first still lifes by Frans Snyders (1579-1657), Clara Peeters
floors. The connections between Flanders and the (ca. 1588/90-after 1621) and other Flemish artists who
Spanish Crown, which ruled over it at this period, enjoyed great success in Antwerp and at the Spanish
explain the size and quality of the Prado’s Flemish court, together with paintings of flower garlands. The
collections. scenes of animals in Room 81 were an Antwerp speciality
which were subsequently imitated in France and
Two of the new galleries of 17th-century Flemish elsewhere.
painting, Rooms 78 and 79, display important works
by Rubens (1577-1640), including the mythological Room 80 focuses on landscape painting, a genre that
works commissioned from him by Philip IV for the first arose in Antwerp in the 16th century with Joachim
Torre de la Parada, as well as some of the artist’s Patinir (active 1515-1524), represented at the Museum
finest small-format paintings. These two galleries by a large collection on display on the lower floor. In the
complete the installation of Rubens at the Museo 17th century artists such as Joos de Momper (1564-1635),
del Prado, the largest collection of the artist’s Peeter Snayers (1592-1667) and Jan Breughel among
works in existence. others continued this tradition.

The new galleries include a monographic space The opening of these new galleries devoted to
(Room 83) devoted to Jan Breughel (1568-1625), 17th-century Flemish painting on the Museum’s second
whose exquisite art combines rich colours and an floor has also led to the rehang of the works by Rubens,
astonishingly detailed technique. The five paintings Van Dyck (1599-1641) and Jordaens (1593-1678) on the
from the series on “The Senses” are among his most first floor (both the Central Gallery and Room 16B).

WORLD of ART 23