Page 298 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

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0 Museo del Prado

The Prado Museum contains the world’s
greatest assembly of Spanish painting –
especially works by Velázquez and Goya –
ranging from the 12th to 19th centuries.
It also houses impressive foreign collections,
particularly of Italian and Flemish works. . Velázquez Collection
The Neo-Classical building was designed in The Triumph of Bacchus
1785 by Juan de Villanueva on the orders of (1629), Velázquez’s
Carlos III, and it opened as a museum in first portrayal of a
1819. The Spanish architect Rafael Moneo mythological subject,
shows the god of
has constructed a new building, over the wine (Bacchus) with
adjacent church’s cloister, where the tem p- a group of drunkards.
orary exhibitions are located. The Casón
del Buen Retiro, now the Prado library, can
be visited with a guided tour on Sundays.
Second
floor

The Martyrdom of
St Philip
(c.1639) José de Ribera
was influenced by
Caravaggio’s dramatic
use of light and shadow,
known as chiaroscuro,
as seen in this work.

The Adoration of the
Shepherds (1612–14)
This dramatic work shows the
elongated figures and swirling
garments typical of El Greco’s
style. It was painted during his
late Mannerist period for his First floor
own funerary chapel.

Ticket
office
Key to Floorplan
Spanish painting
Flemish and Dutch painting
Italian painting
French painting
German painting
British painting
The Garden of Delights (c.1505) Hieronymus Bosch Sculpture Goya entrance
(El Bosco in Spanish), one of Felipe II’s favourite artists, Decorative arts (upstairs)
is especially well repre sented in the Prado. This Non-exhibition space
enigmatic painting depicts Paradise and Hell.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp568–9 and pp591–3

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