The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Miniatures. Velazquez / Text by F. J. Sanchez Canton. — New York : Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc, 1954. — 32 p. - Album - MV.

Анотація:
INTRODUCTION

THE Prado Museum in Madrid is one of the foremost picture galleries of the world, and the collections that go to form it have a special character. Unlike those National Museums that are of academic formation, it is composed chiefly of pictures from the royal private collections; in it are the bulk of paintings acquired by the rulers of Spain from Queen Isabella, in the late 15th century, to Ferdinand ѴП, who founded the Prado in 1819 and gave to his people the Spanish royal collections. The pictures, with few exceptions, were drawn from the Palace in Madrid, from the Escorial, and from other royal residences, as well as from the numerous monastic houses. The collection has continued to grow and at present the pictures number well over two thousand.

In its representation of Velazquez and Goya the Prado is unrivaled; its collections of works by Titian and Rubens, both of whom worked for the Spanish court, are also of utmost importance. The El Grecos alone do not come from the royal collections because the painter did not please King Philip II, and most of his pictures in the Prado were acquired in later centuries from other sources.

The end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th were not the happiest for Spanish painting. The decay of the school of portrait painters, the death of El Greco (whose work remained almost entirely in Toledo), the absence of artistic leadership in any of the large towns, or of a painter of any talent in court, hardly encouraged men to prophesy that the golden age of art was at hand, or that it was to be so rich, so prolonged, or so various in its manifestations. It was in these unpromising days for Spanish painting that a young man named Diego de Silva у Velazquez began his artistic education.

In this Album of miniatures we have the rare and unprecedented privilege of reproducing twenty-four paintings or details by this master from the Prado Museum, the shrine of Velazquez. The artist’s mature works number barely a hundred, and the Prado must have half (and the best) of these. The illustrations give one—as best as can be second hand—an opportunity to view masterpieces from each of three successive periods of the artist’s career. The earliest pictures are characterized by a certain precision, some hardness, but always by great individuality and craftsmanship. Gradually Velazquez adopted a freer style which grew more exquisite with each experiment in the use of light and shade, the effect of distance and atmosphere. The equestrian and hunting portraits, The Forge, and the Surrender of Breda are typical of this changed manner and are distinguished from the earlier work by greater flexibility, brighter color, and a more luminous atmosphere. Velazquez’s final manner can hardly be described— the masterly, even summary, handling of the later portraits, the breath and life they emit, and the very light and air one feels in a canvas such as The Spinners. These three manners fall into periods which appear to be separated by the first and second visits to Italy, in 1629 and 1649.

This Album was written by the distinguished scholar F. J. Sanchez Canton, Sub-Director of the Prado. The text was translated by members of the staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Subjects--Topical Terms:
75 Живопис

Universal Decimal Class. No.: 75