The High Renaissance was a time of incredible achievements in science, technology, mathematics, literature, philosophy and art that inextricably transformed Italian society. Artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael were not simply spectators or recorders of these momentous times, but were integral to the reforms that took place.

The period saw fundamental shifts in ideas about humanity and the place of the individual in society. These debates impacted directly on art as they affected how artists depicted the human form and the world around them. As progressive thinkers re-examined classical history, artists’ notions of beauty became grounded in the idealised forms of Greek and Roman Antiquity. Artists also turned their eyes increasingly to the natural world for inspiration.

Drawing assumed an increasingly vital role in artistic practice at this time. Artist and chronicler of the lives of Renaissance artists, Giorgio Vasari articulated the importance of disegno. To him, good drawing was not only a necessary skill for an artist but also an essential creative act. Vasari believed this absolutely and his drawing Saint Luke painting the Virgin 1568–72 shows an artist starting to paint a canvas upon which the composition is already sketched. Florentine artists in particular often prepared numerous studies of the same element of a composition in their pursuit of perfection.

Countless sixteenth-century artists, including Correggio, Jacopo Tintoretto and the Carracci, carefully copied Raphael’s work and that of other leading Italian artists, such as Michelangelo. They used these studies as a starting point for their own endeavours. Within only a few years of Raphael’s death, however, the idealised forms of the Renaissance were superseded by the elegantly artificial or overly exaggerated constructs of Mannerism, a trend stimulated by Michelangelo.

Mannerist artists reacted against the strict naturalism of the Renaissance, revelling in the capacity to push illusionism beyond the limits of logic and reason. Impossibly elongated and exaggerated forms typified the new style as spatial relationships were deliberately disrupted to disturb and unsettle the eye. Luca Cambiaso’s overly muscled Hercules is a typically bold and imaginative rendering of a god. As the sixteenth century progressed, artists used their unfettered imaginations to induce physical and emotional responses from the viewer. Spectacle and sensation had left realism in their wake.

Titian, the great Venetian master, was the first Italian artist whose works were collected by the Habsburg rulers of Spain, who reigned from 1516 to 1700. The King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500–58) first sat for Titian in the Italian city of Mantua in 1533, thus initiating one of the more fruitful relationships between royal patrons and a single artist in history.

Charles V’s son, the future King Philip II (1527–98), became Titian’s most important patron after the late 1540s. Following fifteen years of near-exclusive service to the Spanish sovereign, the artist wrote to the King in 1562 to express his desire to continue working for him until his death, which he did.

Philip II also admired other Venetian masters, including Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto and collected their work. Much of the appeal of sixteenth-century Venetian art lies in its sensuality combined with a level of bravado in composition and painting technique.

By the 1580s Italian painters began to turn away from the artificial style derived from Michelangelo, codified as Mannerism, as practised by painters such as Giorgio Vasari. They moved towards a more realistic mode led by the Carracci family of Bologna and Caravaggio of Lombardy.

The changes in approach and values inspired a host of other artists, such as the Bolognese painter Guercino and the Tuscan artist Pietro da Cortona, who also invested his work with a profound understanding of the classical past. The examination of classical literature and art had a lasting effect on artists throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and can be seen in the work of Andrea di Lione and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione.

Around 1582 the brothers Annibale and Agostino Carracci, along with their older cousin Ludovico, founded an art academy in Bologna in central Italy. Their intention was to reinvigorate painting by means of an intense study of the natural world, and through bold experimentation both in drawing and painting. Their work and teaching profoundly shaped seventeenth-century Italian art.

The students of the Carracci were trained to draw directly from the studio model and the world around them. Excellence in draughtsmanship became fundamental to their practice. Within a short time their academy was attracting a host of students, some of whom would forge outstanding careers. Guido Reni, for instance, was one exceptional pupil who became renowned for his delicacy of touch and refinement of colour. He quickly became the leading painter in Rome in the early seventeenth century. Giovanni Lanfranco was another former pupil of the Carracci who would gain an international reputation, whose work was eagerly sought in Spain.

Along with the Carracci, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio from Milan, was most instrumental in introducing realism to Italian painting. Caravaggio closely recorded models posed in his studio that were usually lit from a single light source. This created the strong chiaroscuro and dramatic shadowing that he rendered with unprecedented illusionism.

His paintings of an exotic and dangerous urban underclass proved irresistible to a whole movement of artists known as the Caravaggisti. At the turn of the sixteenth century Caravaggio was active in Rome, where he gained many followers. Among them was Orazio Gentileschi, who trained in an earlier tradition yet transformed his technique under the influence of Caravaggio. Cecco del Caravaggio also adopted Caravaggesque realism (depicting saints with dirty feet, for example), as well as the use of sharp raking light, deep shadows and the sculptural treatment of figures.

In 1606, Caravaggio killed a man in Rome, whereupon he fled to the Spanish-ruled city of Naples. He soon gained patronage there and attracted a strong following among fellow artists and his work subsequently affected the next generation of Neapolitan artists. These included the Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera who had settled in Naples in 1616. Ribera was drawn to Caravaggio’s rugged naturalism and dramatic use of lighting which he employed to great effect in the many church altarpieces that he was asked to paint. Ribera also received commissions directly from Spain, thus his influence spread to his homeland. He subsequently taught and influenced a host of Italian artists, including Luca Giordano.

The Buen Retiro (Good Retreat) Palace was built in Madrid, not far from where the Museo del Prado is today. It was intended to be a suburban villa where the Royal Family could relax and entertain visitors. Begun somewhat modestly in the early 1630s, over the next ten years the palace was dramatically enlarged under the direction of the Count-Duke of Olivares, the powerful favourite and mentor of King Philip IV.

The Retiro grew to become an intricate network of approximately forty buildings set amidst lavish gardens, and was one of the more extensive architectural projects undertaken in Europe to that time. The palace interiors necessitated a decoration scheme that included the commissioning of more than 800 paintings by artists working mostly in Spain and Italy. This constituted the single most ambitious programme of artistic patronage ever seen in Europe. Spanish diplomats in Italy and the Viceroys of Naples were tasked with sourcing paintings that would fulfil Philip IV’s and Olivares’ desire to acquire paintings by the most renowned contemporary artists. Many Italian pupils of the Carracci, the Caravaggisti and foreign artists working in Italy were engaged to contribute paintings.

Many of the rooms in the Retiro had specific themes. The History of Ancient Rome cycle for instance was commissioned around 1633 and created solely by artists based in Italy; most of them from Naples, and others from Rome. The series was completed by 1641, when seventeen crates of paintings were shipped from Rome to Spain, destined for the Buen Retiro. The number and size of these paintings plus the high status of the artists involved made this the most impressive series of all those undertaken to decorate the palace. There are more than a dozen paintings in this exhibition that once graced the walls of the Retiro Palace.

Some of the most beautiful paintings in this exhibition are landscapes and still-life images of flowers, many of which once hung in the Buen Retiro Palace. They were usually placed above doors and windows, and were integral to the architectural aims of the building. Indeed many of the works commissioned for the Buen Retiro had to conform in shape and size to the architecture of the interiors. This architectural setting instigated a shift in the direction of still-life painting, which was still a relatively new genre in the seventeenth century. Caravaggio was instrumental in popularising still life and his method of lighting and use of darkness influenced Giuseppe Recco and the elusive Master S.B., both of whom were active in Naples and Rome and made numerous paintings that found their way to Spain.

Italy was still a major artistic centre in the eighteenth century and the Spanish court continued to look to it for its leading artists. From 1692 to 1702 the Neapolitan, Luca Giordano, worked in Spain where he painted frescoes in the Buen Retiro Palace and the Escorial monastery. Many Italian artists found a home in Madrid, including Jacopo Amigoni.

But for a later generation of artists the opportunity to shine came with the rebuilding of the Royal Palace in Madrid after fire destroyed the existing palace in 1734. As with many grand buildings designed in the eighteenth century, its architecture required an extensive series of frescoes. Italy boasted the finest specialist decorative painters and Corrado Giaquinto, who trained in Naples but made his name in Rome, was invited to Madrid in 1753 to paint ceilings of the new palace.

Giaquinto possessed a fluid and virtuoso technique and was a master of illusionistic effects. He was also a genius at strikingly beautiful colour combinations which make his paintings seem illuminated from within. Giaquinto augmented the popular Rococo style with a Neapolitan intensity perfectly suited to the flamboyant architecture of the new palace and taste of those at court. He created fully worked and large canvases of the designs he intended for the frescoes and the Prado have generously included three of these impressive works in this exhibition.

The greatest of all Italian decorative painters, Giambattista Tiepolo arrived in Spain from Venice in 1762 to eventually replace the ailing Corrado Giaquinto. While in Spain he created some majestic paintings for courtly and church patrons, however, he did not attain the same level of success as earlier Italian visitors such as Luca Giordano or Giaquinto. A subtle but distinct shift in taste occurred at the Spanish court in the second half of the eighteenth century which saw a decline in interest in Italian art and culture. Indeed, Tiepolo was the last great Italian artist to work in Spain.

Even while Tiepolo was in Spain, taste there subtly moved away from the Rococo towards a more austere and academic classicism, a trend that was met and fostered by the influential German neoclassical artist Anton Raphael Mengs. He was enticed to Madrid during the 1760s and would dominate the arts of Spain in the late eighteenth century.

Later, a combination of drastic political and social changes in Spain and Europe contributed to the decline of the Spanish desire for contemporary Italian art. The Napoleonic era also brought an end to Spanish rule on the Italian Peninsula. Taste shifted more towards French art and that of Spanish artists, such as Francisco Bayeu y Subías, Luis Paret y Alcázar and Francisco de Goya.

Nevertheless, for three hundred years the arts of Italy and Spain were inextricably linked and during this time Italian painting was fundamental to Spain’s historical and cultural heritage.

The Spanish monarchs were avid collectors of art, ranging from paintings and jewellery to tapestries. Much of it was used to decorate their palaces. However, each member of the Royal Family had their own interests and particular tastes. Monarchs including Philip II and Philip IV were passionate collectors of Italian art, and some of the wives of various kings also loved Italian art. As the Prado is now home to much of the art collected by the Royal Family, its collection reflects the tastes of the monarchs seen here.

Lived: 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516
Reigned: 15 January 1475 – 26 November 1504 (co-ruled with Isabella I of Castile)
Married to: Isabella I of Castile.

Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, was already King of Sicily when he married Isabella I, Queen of Castile and Léon in 1469. After regaining the Moorish kingdom of Granada (1481–92), he united the disparate kingdoms in Spain into a unified country and instigated Spain’s modern period of imperial expansion into the Americas. When another branch of the House of Aragon died out Ferdinand II also became King of Naples. Both Ferdinand II and Isabella were devout Catholics and pursued a policy of religious unity, which included the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. In 1478 they established the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Ferdinand and Isabella also undertook an extensive program of building in major cities throughout Spain. The fusion of Netherlandish, Italian Renaissance and Moorish styles that Isabella liked in particular, led to the development of the Hispano-Flemish style, a particularly Spanish form of decorated Gothic. However, Ferdinand II was less interested in the arts than his wife.

Lived: 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504
Reigned: 11 December 1474 – 26 November 1504
Married to: Ferdinand II.

Isabella and her cousin Ferdinand II were married in 1469 thus uniting the two houses of Aragon and Castile. To protect their kingdom from French aggression their three daughters were strategically wed to key European rulers: the eldest Isabella (1470–98) became Queen of Portugal; the second, Joanna of Castile, married Philip the Fair, Duke of Burgundy (future rulers of Spain); and the youngest daughter, Catherine of Aragon, became the first wife of Henry VIII, King of England. Isabella had a refined taste in sculpture, painting and the decorative arts, owning many magnificent religious works by Flemish and Italian artists such as Hans Memling, Sandro Botticelli and Pietro Perugino, the master of Raphael. Isabella and Ferdinand founded various civic and religious institutions such as hospitals and convents that were richly decorated with frescoes, elaborate sculptural ensembles and surface ornamentation. The Capilla Real (Royal Chapel of Granada) of Ferdinand II and Isabella I is one of the most important historic and artistic buildings in Spain. It introduced the Renaissance style to a Spanish audience.

Lived: 22 July 1478 – 25 September 1506
Reigned: 27 June – 25 September 1506 (co-ruled with Joanna of Castile)
Married to: Joanna of Castile.

Known as ‘Philip the Handsome’ or ‘Philip the Fair’, Philip I was born in Bruges and was the son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Upon marrying Joanna of Castile in 1496, he became the King of Castile and the first member of the Austrian Habsburg family to rule in Spain. He was also brother-in-law to King Henry VIII of England. Before inheriting the Holy Roman Empire, Philip I died suddenly of typhoid.

Lived: 6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555
Reigned: 26 November 1504 – 12 April 1555
Married to: Philip I.

Daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella of Castile. Joanna’s life was tragically overshadowed by mental illness that today would probably be recognised as depression. Her emotional instability rather harshly earned her the sobriquet ‘Joanna the Mad’. After her husband Philip I’s premature death in 1506 her mental health deteriorated to the point where she was confined in the castle of Tordesillas until her death. Isabella’s legend was an inspiration to artists in the 15th and 16th centuries and in the 19th century she was the subject of many Spanish historical paintings.

Lived: 24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558

Reigned: 23 January 1516 – 16 January 1556 (co-ruled with Joanna of Castile before abdicating)

Married to Isabel of Portugal.

Grandson of both Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, King and Queen of Spain, and son of Philip I and Joanna of Castile, Charles I became King of Spain upon the death of Ferdinand II, founding the Spanish branch of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. He also became ruler of all the territories belonging to Spain, including the Spanish Americas, Sicily and Naples and in 1519 was elected Holy Roman Emperor, giving him dominion over Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Flanders. Charles I ruled Spain for forty years during which time he was responsible for major architectural commissions throughout the Empire and the creation of significant collections, including paintings, tapestries, globes, maps, books, medals and coins, arms and armour, jewellery and scientific equipment and drawings. After several visits to Italy (1529–36), Charles I began to move away from Late Gothic architectural forms as he came under the influence of the classicising Renaissance style. He instigated a massive redevelopment project aimed at restoring the castles of Seville, Toledo and Madrid and had erected many fortifications throughout The Netherlands, Flanders, Spain, Italy and North Africa.
Works by important Italian masters began to enter the Imperial collection after 1529, the year Charles I met Titian. Titians famous full-length portrait of Charles from 1533 marked the beginning of a relationship that profoundly influenced the future Spanish monarchy’s taste in art and consequently the collections of the Museo del Prado. However, Charles was not a noted lover of painting and it was another thirteen years before he commissioned another work from Titian. Being a very practical man and fairly conventional in his tastes, he was only interested in portraits or religious paintings. The acquisition of other more allegorical works was left up to others in the Imperial court. An ambitious suite of large tapestries was commissioned, showing battle and topographical scenes and in the late 1530s and early 1540s the major court commission was for a set of monumental stained glass windows for Brussels Cathedral. In 1555–56 Charles I abdicated, relinquishing all his territories and giving his brother Ferdinand I his imperial crown before retiring to the monastery of Yuste in Extremadura, Spain. His son Philip was crowned King of Spain.

Lived: 24 October 1503 – 1 May 1539
Wife and cousin of: Charles I.

Although it was a politically arranged marriage, Isabel and Charles were instantly attracted to one another. Isabel was Charles’s greatest stalwart, ruling Spain competently during his absences. Sadly she died after giving birth to their sixth child. Charles I was so devastated that he never re-married and he wore black for the rest of his life signifying his perpetual mourning.

Lived: 21 May 1527 – 13 September 1598
Reigned: 16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598
Married to: Maria Manuela of Portugal (1543–45); Mary I of England (1554–58); Elisabeth of Valois (1559–68); Anna of Austria (1570–80).

In January 1556, upon the abdication of his father Charles I, Philip II was crowned King of Spain, the Spanish Americas, the Spanish possessions in Italy and the low countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. He was an avid collector and in his younger years his tastes were eclectic. His vast collections were displayed in the Escorial, a complex consisting of a monastery and royal palace that he had built near Madrid. Initially he was drawn to northern European artists, especially the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, but gradually his tastes broadened. On a visit to northern Italy he was introduced to the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Mategna and other masters of the High Renaissance. In 1548 he met Titian and after 1550 Philip II became Titian’s most important patron, eventually acquiring 30 of the artist’s works including mythological, religious, portrait, political and allegorical paintings. Titian enjoyed a unique relationship with the king, whereby he gladly accepted everything the artist sent him, without having been given instructions as to their content. The palace at El Pardo contained nineteen Habsburg portraits by Titian, which unfortunately were all destroyed in a fire in 1604. Philip II was also fond of other Venetian artists including Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto. He rarely acquired works by artists outside the Veneto, only accepting their works as gifts.

As Philip II’s appreciation of Italian art increased, this shift was also reflected in his building projects, whereby he employed architects and decorators who worked in the Italianate Renaissance style. As principal architect of the Escorial, Philip appointed Juan Bautista de Toledo, who had trained in Italy and was a former assistant to Michelangelo. The need to decorate the newly built Escorial with frescoes and paintings resulted in the commissioning of history paintings that focussed on Habsburg military victories and in the acquisition of large numbers of religious works. However, Philip II’s Catholicism was so entrenched that he rejected artists whose work did not comply with the artistic guidelines set down by the Council of Trent (1545–63) – such as Federico Zuccaro, who after being summoned to Madrid failed to please Philip II. Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) and Luca Cambiaso were also lured to Spain to work on the Escorial, with both eventually being appointed Court Painter. At his death, all of Philip’s royal residences had been enriched architecturally and decoratively and his art collection was both enormous and diverse, numbering more than 1500 paintings.

Lived: 15 October 1527 – 12 August 1545
First wife and cousin of: Philip II (her mother, Catherine of Austria, was sister to Charles I and their grandmother was Joanna of Castile).

Maria Manuela died at the age of 17, shortly after giving birth to a sickly baby, the Infante Don Carlos (1545–68).

Lived: 18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558
Reigned: Queen of England and Ireland 19 July 1553 – 17 November 1558

Second wife of Philip II and daughter of Henry VIII of England and his first wife Catherine of Aragon (making her and her husband second cousins).

At the age of 6 Mary was betrothed to her 22 year old cousin Charles I (Philip II’s father), however the engagement was cancelled. Eventually Charles I himself instigated the marriage of Mary and his son the Infante Philip which took place in England in 1554. A portrait of Philip by Titian was sent to Mary before their wedding. Antonis Mor, an artist that Philip particularly admired, accompanied him to England for the wedding, where he painted Mary’s portrait. Upon marriage, Philip became King of England and Ireland. Philip II spent extended periods away from Mary, conducting a war with France over control of Flanders and the couple did not produce an heir. Mary died at the age of forty-two, only four years after her wedding.

Lived: 2 April 1545 – 3 October 1568

Third wife of Philip II, eldest daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici.

Their marriage was the result of The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559), a cessation in the conflict between France and Spain. Nonetheless, it was a very happy union, despite their considerable age difference (Elisabeth was 14 at her wedding and Philip 32). To celebrate their wedding, Philip staged pageants to amuse her. Elisabeth, like Philip, was also an art lover. She had been an amateur painter and after meeting the artist Sofonisba Anguissola at her wedding, Anguissola helped her to improve her technique. Elisabeth died from a miscarriage during her fourth pregnancy, only two of which produced live infants, the princesses Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catherine Michelle.

Lived: 1 November 1549 – 26 October 1580

Fourth wife and niece of Philip II.

As the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, Anna of Austria was highly sought after as a future consort in the European courts. Her father chose to strengthen ties between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the Habsburg dynasty by offering her for marriage initially to Philip II’s son Charles (from his first wife Maria Manuela of Portugal). After Charles’s mental health deteriorated, Maximillian II arranged her marriage to Philip II. It is said that the king had the greatest affection for his last wife and they had five children together, before Anna died suddenly at the age of 31.

Lived: 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621
Reigned: 13 September 1598 – 31 March 1621

Married to Marguerite of Austria.

The only child of Philip II and Anna of Austria to reach adulthood. Philip III was a negligent and weak ruler, who left the administration of the kingdom to his chief minister, the Duke of Lerma. This led to a regime based on nepotism, resulting in a government riddled with corruption and mismanagement. The artistic trends initiated by Philip III’s father continued and the Royal Collection increased mainly through the flow of diplomatic gifts, although some Flemish and Italian paintings were purchased. Because of Philip III’s pious character these paintings were fundamentally of a religious nature. The school of art at Madrid became very important, as was the role of the court painter, both circumstances elevating the position of Spanish artists.

Lived: 25 December 1584 – 3 October 1611

Wife and second cousin of Philip III.

Marguerite was a great patron of the arts, who devoted her life to pious foundations and charitable works. As well as her husband receiving many gifts of important paintings, Marguerite also benefitted. She received works by Jacopo da Empoli, Alessandro and Cristofano Allori and Domenico Passignano, as well as a magnificent painting by Federico Barocci, all from Florence. She died giving birth to their eighth child and Philip III never re-married.

Lived: 8 April 1605 – 17 September 1665
Reigned: 31 March 1621 – 17 September 1665
Married to: Elisabeth of France (1615–44); Mariana of Austria (1649–65).

Philip IV was a true art lover and the most important European collector in the seventeenth century. As a child he studied drawing and painting under Juan Bautista Maino. His earliest commissions as king were for the renovation and remodelling of several of the royal palaces. To decorate them Philip IV turned to his grandfather, Philip II’s collection. Here he discovered the Italian masters, resulting in a renewed interest in Italian art. Peter Paul Rubens’ visit to Madrid in 1628 also had a profound influence on Philip IV, the former not only acting as diplomat for Spain, but also supplying a series of large mythological and allegorical canvases for the Torre de la Parada, Philip’s hunting lodge near Madrid.

In 1630 the construction of the Buen Retiro Palace commenced. This was an enormous project that took seven years. Eight hundred contemporary paintings from Spain, Italy and The Netherlands were commissioned to decorate it. The finest artists working in Rome and Naples were engaged for the project including Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Giovanni Lanfranco and Mario Nuzzi. The collections of friends and enemies were also plundered to fill the new palace. Under Philip IV the Royal Collection of sixteenth-century Italian painting was consolidated in three ways: firstly, the further acquisition of works by Titian; secondly, the inclusion of underrepresented Venetian masters, such as Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto and the Bassanos; and thirdly, the addition of works by central Italian painters such as Correggio, Parmigianino, Andrea del Sarto and Raphael. Most of the paintings by Raphael now in the Prado came into the Royal Collection at this time. The majority of paintings acquired by Philip IV, however, were from auctions and estate sales, the most important being that of Charles I of England following his beheading in 1649. The royal household accounts list no less than 42 painters in the employ of the court during the reign of Philip IV.

Lived: 22 November 1602 – 6 October 1644

First wife of Philip IV.

Elisabeth was the eldest daughter of King Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici. A double marriage, intended to strengthen ties between France and Spain, was negotiated, whereby she would marry the future Philip IV and her brother, King Louis XIII of France, would marry Philip’s sister, the Infanta Anne. Elisabeth was married to Philip IV for 29 years, during which time she gave birth to eight children, only one of whom grew to adulthood, the Infanta Maria Theresa, who married her cousin King Louis IV of France. Their great-grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, became King of Spain, from whom the current King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, is descended.

Lived: 24 December 1634 – 16 May 1696

Second wife and niece of Philip IV.

Mariana of Austria was originally betrothed to Philip IV’s son, Balthasar Carlos. Upon the Infante’s death only three months later, Philip IV married his niece himself. He needed a male heir to continue the royal bloodline and his first wife Elisabeth of France had died a few years previously. The painting Lot and his daughters (c.1634) by Francesco Furini was given to Philip IV by Ferdinand II de Medici, Duke of Tuscany, on the occasion of the king’s marriage to Mariana. After the death of her husband, Mariana ruled as Regent, and as such steered royal patronage until the accession of their son, Charles II.

Lived: 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700

Reigned: 17 September 1665 – 1 November 1700

Married to Marie Louise of Orléans (1679–89); Maria Anna of Neuburg (1689–1700).

Charles II was the last Habsburg to govern Spain. He was born with significant physical and mental handicaps and required the aid of carers his entire life. However, there is circumstantial evidence that suggests he had an interest in the arts as the number of royal artists employed by the court increased under his reign and he founded the Confradia de Escultores (Confraternity of Sculptors). He also summoned Luca Giordano to Spain who was appointed Court Painter in 1694 and the outstanding still-life painter Andrea Belvedere. While Charles II added some Venetian Old Masters to the Royal Collection, his most praiseworthy achievement was keeping it intact. After a century and a half of royal collecting, Charles II could boast one of the finest galleries of paintings in Europe, with seventy-six paintings by Titian and sixty-two by Rubens hanging in the Alcázar Palace alone. To these must be added the dozens of paintings by these artists displayed in the other royal residences.
Charles II died without an heir, bequeathing his kingdom to his French grand-nephew Philip, Duke of Anjou, which heralded the start of a new Bourbon royal dynasty in Spain.

Lived: 26 March 1662 – 12 February 1689

First wife of Charles II and granddaughter of Louis XIII of France.

Marie Louise had an unhappy marriage to Charles II. She felt isolated at the Spanish court and was homesick for the Palais-Royal and the Château de Saint-Cloud where she grew up. The populace also made public demonstrations against her because of the antipathy between France and Spain at the time. After ten years of marriage, during which no heirs were produced, Marie Louise died suddenly. Charles II, who genuinely loved his wife, was heartbroken.

Lived: 28 October 1667 – 16 July 1740

Second wife of Charles II.

Maria Anna was chosen out of all possible marriage candidates because of the fertility of her forebears (she was one of seventeen children) and her sister was married to Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, thereby strengthening ties between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs. Maria Anna was hated by her Spanish subjects, possibly because of her overbearing and bullying nature towards the king. It is rumoured that she stole valuable paintings and had them sent to her relatives in Germany. No doubt because of the king’s physical afflictions, the royal couple remained childless. After the king’s death in 1700, Maria Anna was forced to leave Madrid.

Lived: 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746

Reigned: 16 November 1700 – 14 January 1724 (abdicated); 6 September 1724 – 9 July 1746

Married to Maria Louisa of Savoy (1701–14); Elisabeth Farnese (1714–46).

First ruler of the Spanish branch of the French Bourbon dynasty. Philip, Duc of Anjou, was bequeathed the Spanish throne by Charles II, King of Spain, who had no heirs. The appointment of a French nobleman to the Spanish throne, and the threat that a combined kingdom would create, plunged Europe into the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), with France and Spain fighting against the ‘Grand Alliance’, a large coalition of countries including England, the Dutch Republic, Portugal and Austria. After 13 years of conflict, Philip ascended the throne as Philip V, King of Spain, under virtually the same terms that were originally proposed. As a reward, Philip V gave paintings by Titian to several of his supporters. Not used to the austerity of the Spanish palaces after the extravagance of the palace at Versailles, Philip V ordered the construction of the palace at La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia), inspired by Versailles and surrounded by gardens and fountains. The new palace required a similar, but smaller, acquisition campaign as that of the Buen Retiro Palace. Philip acquired modestly, mainly through the purchase of important collections offered through estate sales. Notable purchases included paintings from the estate of the artist Carlo Maratti (who had settled in Spain), the extraordinary collection of classical sculpture that belonged to Christina, Queen of Sweden (acquired for him by his second wife Elisabeth Farnese) and other smaller collections of Italian and Flemish paintings.

The Royal Collection suffered significantly under Philip V’s reign when a fire that originated in the rooms of the French artist Jean Ranc destroyed the Alcázar on Christmas Eve, 1734. More than 500 masterpieces were destroyed, including fourteen Titians. Extraordinarily, many important paintings were saved by being tossed out of the windows, and due to a stroke of good fortune others escaped the blaze because Philip V had just had them relocated to the Buen Retiro Palace. Philip began the construction of the new Palacio Real, following a lavish Baroque design inspired by Bernini’s plans for the Louvre. It was a turning point in Spanish architecture. Even though Philip V was not a collector to rival Philip II or Philip IV, nonetheless his patronage and promotion of the arts in Spain was significant. He founded the Real Fábrica de Tapices de Santa Bárbara (tapestry workshop), re-invigorated the Sevillian school of painting and created the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (school of art) in 1744.

Lived: 17 September 1688 – 14 February 1714

First wife of Philip V.

Maria Louisa was thirteen when she married the seventeen-year-old King Philip V. Not only was she loved by her husband but because of her mature and conscientious temperament she was beloved of the Spanish people. She was a loyal and supportive consort who ruled remarkably effectively as Regent during Philip V’s absences, despite her extreme youth. Maria Louisa and Philip had the rooms of the old Alcázar redecorated in the French palace style, a change that no doubt made them feel more at home. Maria Louisa had four children, two whom died young, before dying of tuberculosis herself aged twenty-five.

Lived: 25 October 1692 – 11 July 1766

Second wife of Philip V.

Elisabeth came from the Farnese family, who ruled the Duchy of Parma in northern Italy – part of the Holy Roman Empire – for almost two hundred years. She was an amateur artist, who was well acquainted with her family’s significant art collections in Parma and Rome. Her artistic sensibilities were moulded by the Italian visual tradition. As her influence over her husband increased, Elisabeth reduced the number of commissions flowing to French artists, while steering royal patronage towards Italy, and moderated the modelling of Spanish art academies along French lines. Even though the couple consulted each other on all matters, it is clear from the royal inventories that Elisabeth and Philip had specific areas of artistic interest. The queen collected Italian works from the 16th and 17th centuries, including masterpieces by Correggio, Guido Reni, Francesco Salviati and Poussin and Flemish works by such celebrated artists as Anthony van Dyck, the Bruegel family, Paul Bril and David Teniers II. Elizabeth also collected 17th century Spanish art, especially the works of Bartolomé Estefan Murillo, an artist whose work was not particularly liked by the king. But Elisabeth also balanced the acquisition of works from previous centuries with contemporary paintings, albeit with an Italian flavour. The paintings and sculptures from her collection can be identified by a fleur-des-lis stamped or engraved upon them. A significant redecoration of the San Ildefonso palace in 1735 prompted the commissioning of two major cycles of paintings, executed predominantly by Italian painters including Sebastiano Conca, Francesco Trevisani, Francesco Solimena, Donato Creti, Giambattista Pittoni, Giovanni Paolo Panini and Andrea Locatelli. After the death of Philip V, Elisabeth was marginalised by the new king, Ferdinand VI, necessitating a slight reduction in her patronage. But she continued to actively support the arts, including the establishment of The Royal Glass Factory at La Granja. At her death she divided her vast personal collections amongst her three sons.

Lived: 25 August 1707 – 31 August 1724
Reigned: 14 January 1724 – 31 August 1724

Married to Louise Elisabeth d’Orléans.

Louis I attained the Spanish throne aged 16 after the abdication of his father, Philip V. After only seven months Louis died of smallpox and his father once again resumed the throne.

Lived: 11 December 1709 – 16 June 1742

Married to Louis I at the age of thirteen.
Upon her husband’s death two years later, she was granted permission to return to France.

Lived: 23 September 1713 – 10 August 1759
Reigned: 9 July 1746 – 10 August 1759

Married to Barbara of Portugal.

Son of Philip V and Maria Louisa of Savoy, Ferdinand VI attained the Spanish throne on the death of his father in 1746. He enjoyed a contemporary, cosmopolitan taste in art that incorporated both French and Italian aesthetics. The palace style of his reign reflected the prosperity of the country – it was flamboyant, sumptuous and decorative. Ferdinand VI was a patron of the arts rather than an avid collector. He instigated a new pattern of relations between Spanish monarch and Italian artists. Artists were invited to come to Madrid to work on major projects where they were principally employed in redecorating the palace interiors for which they produced paintings, frescoes and sculpture. They were also engaged in creating set designs for plays and pageants, entertainments that the court was fond of staging. Artists such as Corrado Giaquinto and Jacopo Amigoni took up the offer to relocate to Spain. After his wife Barbara of Portugal died in 1758, Ferdinand VI fell into a deep depression, dying the following year.

Lived: 4 December 1711 – 27 August 1758

Married to Ferdinand VI.

Maria Barbara of Braganza was married to Ferdinand VI in order to strengthen Spain and Portugal’s alliance. She had considerable influence over her husband and he depended on her for advice and support. Barbara had a cultivated upbringing and especially loved music. The royal couple were great patrons of the theatre, supporting lavish staged celebrations and pageants by the Italian opera singer and scenographer Carlo Broschi Farinelli. Barbara gave birth to a still-born son early in her marriage, but after that the couple produced no heirs. She was a severe asthmatic for most of her life and died aged 46.

Lived: 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788
Reigned: 10 August 1759 – 14 December 1788

Married to Maria Amalia of Saxony.

The son of Philip V and Elisabeth Farnese, Charles III succeeded to the Spanish throne on the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI, after already ruling as King of Naples for 25 years. His patronage reflected his personal interest in architecture and mechanics and during his time in Italy Charles instituted the construction of several important public buildings as well as commissioning two new palaces near Naples. These architectural projects led to the flowering of artistic productivity in the region, especially in the decorative arts. Charles III founded the Capodimonte Porcelain Factory, a majolica factory at the palace at Caserta, the Real Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure and a silk factory. The discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii in the 1730s and 40s also stimulated artistic activity in Naples. Initially he did not collect works by the more gifted contemporary artists until encouraged to do so by his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony. In 1759, Charles became King of Spain and he left Naples for Madrid accompanied by a large entourage that included the artist Mario Nani. He continued the decoration of the Palacio Real begun by his father, summoning the finest artists at the time to work on the project, including Anton Raphael Mengs (who became Director of Painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Art of San Fernando and then Chief Court Painter) and the three Tiepolos. The redecoration of the palaces required vast amounts of goods and furnishings to fill them so Charles III founded several factories in Spain that manufactured luxury goods exclusively for the royal residences – the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara, the porcelain factory at the Buen Retiro, The Real Laboratorio de Piedras Duras and the existing Real Fábrica de Vidrio y Cristal at San Ildefonso was enlarged. But his greatest legacy was transforming Madrid into a modern city with a main tree-lined boulevard, street lighting, and an integrated sewage system.

Charles III also enlarged the Royal Collection through purchase. Unfortunately his taste was governed by his zealous puritanism that led him to request the destruction of the finest nudes in the Royal Collection, including masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. They survived only through the intervention of Mengs and were confined to the Buen Retiro Palace and the Casa de Rebeque.

Lived: 24 November 1724 – 27 September 1760

Married to Charles III.

Maria Amalia was a vibrant, educated and much loved Queen of Naples. She had thirteen children, seven of whom grew to adulthood. Under her influence, Charles III developed a more discerning appreciation of art that led to commissions being given to leading contemporary Italian artists such as Francesco Solimena, Francesco de Mura and Giuseppe Bonito, all of whom painted canvases glorifying the reign of Charles III and Maria Amalia. Maria Amalia invited Anton Raphael Mengs to Naples in 1759 to paint portraits of the royal family, where his success led to him being enticed to work at the court in Madrid. Meng’s influence would eventually spread throughout Spain, where his classicism and use of cool colours became models for contemporary Spanish artists. Maria Amalia died from tuberculosis a year after becoming Queen of Spain. After her death Charles continued the projects they had initiated together.

Lived: 11 November 1748 – 20 January 1819
Reigned: 14 December 1788 – 19 March 1808 (deposed)

Married to Maria Louisa of Parma.

Charles IV was the only eighteenth-century Spanish monarch truly interested in painting. Even as heir apparent he amassed a magnificent collection of paintings by such luminaries as Veronese, Andrea del Sarto, Guercino, Anton Raphael Mengs and Vernet. After his succession in 1788, Charles continued expanding his collections of paintings, antiquities, clocks, jewellery and musical instruments with the help of agents throughout Europe. He also bought Italian art from estate sales of other collections. However, under Charles IV, Spanish taste drifted from Italian to French, with interiors blending French furniture with Spanish tapestries in the Empire and burgeoning Neo-Classical styles. Charles IV also integrated paintings into the overall decorative scheme of his palaces so that they blended harmoniously with their surroundings. The nude paintings that were removed by Charles III were eventually transferred to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and eventually to the Prado in 1827, where they hung in a ‘reserved hall’ whose access was prohibited to woman and children. In 1808 Charles IV was forced to abdicate by Napoléon and was detained in France until he was sent into exile. He eventually settled in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, where he formed a new collection of around 700 paintings consisting mainly of Italian paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Lived: 9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819

Wife and cousin of Charles IV.

Maria Louisa was an unpopular queen, whose political meddling was not in the best interests of Spain. She followed her husband into exile, with both dying in the same year. The couple had fourteen children, six of whom reached adulthood.

Lived: 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833
Reigned: 19 March – 6 May 1808 (deposed); 11 December 1813 – 29 September 1833

Married to Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (1802–6); Maria Isabel of Portugal (1816–18); Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony (1819–29); Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (1829–33).

In 1808, Napoléon deposed King Charles IV and then Charles’s son Ferdinand VII before installing his own brother, Joseph Bonaparte as King Joseph I of Spain. Following Napoléon’s demise, Ferdinand regained the throne in 1813 with English backing. His reign was marked by misrule, oppression and political turmoil. Spain was nearly bankrupt as the American Wars of Independence deprived Spain of the revenue she had relied upon for centuries.

Ferdinand VII was responsible for the establishment of the Museo Nacional del Prado, which opened in November 1819 as the Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculpture. His vision was to bring together the collection of artworks that had thus far been scattered throughout the royal residences, to showcase the Royal Collection and demonstrate that Spanish art was the equal of any in Europe. He contributed significant personal funds to this enterprise, both to ready the building for opening and for the purchase of many acquisitions. He also donated important paintings from his personal collection by Ribera, Murillo, Dürer, Titian and Rubens. Upon his death, his daughter Isabella II, Queen of Spain, avoided the splitting of the Prado’s collection, by making a financial contribution to the Spanish government.

Lived: 14 December 1784 – 21 May 1806

First wife and cousin of Ferdinand VII.

Both Maria Antonia and her elder brother Francis married into the ruling Spanish Bourbon family in order to shore up ties between Spain and the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. Maria Antonia was intelligent and politically aware but died of tuberculosis before being able to leave any real legacy. Her two pregnancies ended in miscarriage.

Lived: 19 May 1797 – 26 December 1818

Second wife and niece of Ferdinand VII.

Ferdinand VII waited ten years before marrying his niece and second wife Maria Isabel of Portugal. Maria Isabel was a great lover of art and it was she who encouraged her husband to use the building that is now the home of the Museo Nacional del Prado as a new Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures. It opened in 1819, the year after Maria Isabel died giving birth to her second child in two years, with neither infant surviving.

Lived: 6 December 1803 – 18 May 1829

Third wife of Ferdinand VII.

After two marriages that had failed to produce an heir, for his third wife Ferdinand chose a bride of Saxon lineage, whose females were renowned for their fertility. Maria Josepha was young and naïve when she married Ferdinand and had been brought up in a convent after her mother died when she was a baby. During the ten years of her marriage she gradually withdrew from public life as she failed to become pregnant, before dying suddenly from a fever.

Lived: 27 April 1806 – 22 August 1878

Fourth wife and niece of Ferdinand VII.

Ferdinand was so anxious to produce an heir after the death of his third wife that he married Maria Christina only seven months later. She rapidly gave birth to two daughters, the eldest becoming the future Queen Isabella II, before Ferdinand died in 1833. Maria Christina then assumed the position of Regent for Isabella. She secretly married a commoner three months later, which led to upheaval in the line of succession.