It articulates a tour of the artists and masterpieces that empresses, queens and regents have contributed to the art gallery. Jewels such as ‘The Descent’ by Van der Weyden or the tables of ‘Adam’ and ‘Eva’ by Duero’ would not be in the museum without the help of these women
The Prado Museum would not be what it is without the contributions of exceptional promoters and patrons such as Isabel de Castilla, María de Hungría or Isabel Clara Eugenia. This is recognized by both the museum’s director, Miguel Falomir, and Noelia García Pérez, art historian and curator responsible for the ‘El Prado en femenino’ route, through which the art gallery seeks to settle its debt to the women who created, enriched and cared for his collection. Compare the relevance of this ‘matronage’ with the noisy minority of women represented in the Prado, in whose rooms 19 paintings painted by 16 women are displayed among more than 1,500 pieces.
Organized in collaboration with the Women’s Institute of the Ministry of Equality and on view until April 9, ‘El Prado en femenino’ discusses the role of the great promoters and benefactors of the arts through 32 pieces spread over a dozen rooms and in a very specific time frame: from 1451 to 1663, from Isabel la Católica to Isabel Clara Eugenia. All the works on the tour are linked to aristocrats, empresses and queens who, according to the curator, “excelled not only in patronage work, but also in promoting the artists who worked in their service”.
“There is no other museum in the world where the contribution of women has been so decisive in its construction, either as collectors or as promoters, or who have made a decisive contribution to its creation and presentation,” says Miguel Falomir. He is convinced that Prado is a “megapower” in this regard.
The itinerary begins with Isabel I of Castilla, an important reference in the origins and evolution of Spanish female patronage and as a political figure. “It was the inevitable starting point for analyzing the artistic promotion of the women of the House of Austria, in which it had a decisive influence,” says García Pérez.
He then deals with figures such as Isabel of Portugal, María Tudor, Isabel de Valois, Margarita of Austria, María de Aragón, María de Hungría or Isabel Clara Eugenia. Without them, jewels such as the series ‘The five senses’ by Brueghel and Rubens and the paintings by El Greco, ‘Carlos V la batalla Mülhberg’ by Titian, the beautiful bronze sculptures by Felipe II and María de Hungary entrusted to Pompeo and Leone Leoni, ‘The Holy Family Surrounded by Saints’ by Rubens, or the portraits of ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’ by Alberto Dürer.
“Without these women, the Prado wouldn’t be what it is,” the curator repeats. «They were very important political figures in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, they gained great power and understood that art was a very useful tool to make visible their position as women and ruler in a complicated context where women still had to legitimize their position . right to rule,” the commissioner clarifies. “Without a doubt, art is a weapon of power, and the artistic collections they nurtured and cared for were immensely helpful in making their power visible in the courts of the Renaissance,” he specifies.
«As promoters and patrons of the arts, women have been the promoters of this museum since its own founder, Isabel de Braganza. Isabel II helped to keep the collections united after the death of Fernando VII and the collectors who, with their own attitudes and collections as promoters, played a fundamental role in the construction of the Prado Museum,” emphasizes the expert.
The curator does not believe we can confirm that these promoters are “feminists before feminism”, even though she points out how “they defended to death the role of women and their position in social, ideological and political spheres in a complicated context “. “Most were great politicians, such as queens, regents, governors or empresses, but they exercised power in a context where women’s rule was considered unnatural, illegitimate and contrary to the Holy Scriptures.” « From Mary of Hungary and after Mary of Austria they were said to be manly women But they had the success of absolute recognition, so much so that at the funeral of María de Hungría she was recognized as the most attentive and watchful spirit in matters of state in all of Europe at the time,” the curator concludes.
After Isabel la Católica, the other two most prominent promoters are María de Hungría and Isabel Clara Eugenia, who held relevant political positions. After the death of her husband Louis II, Maria was regent of Hungary on behalf of her brother Ferdinand I until June 1527 and governor of the Netherlands from 1531 to 1555. Isabel Clara Eugenia was Sovereign Princess of these territories between 1599 and 1621 with her husband, Archduke Alberto, and as a widow she held the post of governor until her death in 1663. The Prado houses dozens of works derived directly from her patronage and without Mention the close connection between the museum and the work of Rubens, which makes the Prado the museum in the world with the most work by the Flemish master.
“María de Hungría was the brightest figure of her generation and of the House of Austria in her relationship with the arts”. “To her we owe the construction of the imperial statue of Carlos V, but also his ability to instrumentalize art in the service of the political interests of his dynasty,” the curator emphasizes.
Source: La Verdad
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