The Prado’s Female Perspective

The Prado Museum in Madrid celebrated its 205th birthday a few days ago. This art gallery is amongst the best in the world since it is home to some of the best collections of artists like Bosch, Titian, Velázquez, Rubens, or Goya, to name some of the most celebrated ones. But what visitors did not often know is that this Spanish public institution owes a lot to women. That quickly changed thanks to trailblazing initiative: El Prado en femenino – The Female Perspective. “In recent years, the Prado Museum has shown a strong commitment to highlighting the role of women in the art world whether as creators, patrons, collectors, or as subjects of the male gaze. This has been achieved through different initiatives including monographic exhibitions and guided tours of its permanent collection, as well as scientific meetings, conferences, lectures, and specialized scholarships in its Study Centre. We are now bringing this experience to our website under the title The Female Perspective, with the goal of sharing what has been accomplished and to encourage new research.” https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-female-perspective

This initiative was born under the impulse of director Miguel Falomir who appointed Prof. Noelia García Pérez from the University of Murcia as Scientific Director. She is a leading specialist in the field of female artistic patronage (Miradas de mujeres 2004, Mary of Hungary, Renaissance Patron and Collector. Gender, Art, and Culture 2020, The Making of Juana of Austria. Gender, Art, and Patronage in Early Modern Iberia 2021).

Museo del Prado website
PHOTOGRAPH BY Museo del Prado

What is The Female Perspective about? It is a multifaceted project showcasing the importance that women had in the birth and growth of the museum’s collections. In this sense, this is a singularly important museum in Europe since women have contributed some of the most iconic masterpieces that the visitor can admire. This is the case of The Descent from the Cross painted around 1435 by Rogier van der Weyden. The work was purchased in 1549 by Queen Mary of Hungary who was the sister of the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Mary ruled the Netherlands in her brother’s name, she was largely in charge of creating Charles’ image of power, and she became one of the most important art patrons in Renaissance Europe. For example, she became the biggest collector in the sixteenth century of works by the Venetian genius Titian.

The Descent from the Cross painted around 1435 by Rogier van der Weyden
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón
Equestrian Portrait of Charles V (also Emperor Charles V on Horseback or Charles V at Mühlberg) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Titian
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón

Another outstanding woman who decisively contributed to the museum’s collection was Queen Christina of Sweden. She was the one to gift King Philip IV of Spain of the works Adam and Eve painted by Dürer around 1507 displayed in Room 055B.

Adam painted by Dürer around 1507
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón
Adam painted by Dürer around 1507
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón

What The Female Perspective has uncovered to more than three million people who visit this museum annually, as well as those who follow them globally, is that from Isabel I of Castile to Isabel II of Bourbon, the history of this art collection has been deeply connected to the patronage efforts of some of the most representative women of the European royal houses. Whether as collectors and promoters or by supporting decisively its founding and preservation, the Prado Museum would look very empty without these contributions losing some of the most iconic works.

The museum was born in 1875 with a building project entrusted by King Charles III of Spain to Juan de Villanueva to house the Natural History Cabinet. However, the monarch’s grandson King Ferdinand VII, encouraged by his wife Queen Isabel of Braganza, ordered the opening of the Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures instead. This is what Bernardo López Piquer is showing us in Queen María Isabel of Braganza as founder of the Museo del Prado in Room 101.

Maria Isabel of Braganza Queen of Spain as Founder of the Museo del Prado
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón

The institution opened to the public for the first time in 1819 as the Museo Nacional del Prado. Its first catalogue included 1,510 pictures that were gathered from the various Spanish royal residences. Thanks to Queen Isabel II of Spain, the royal collection was kept together. This was crucial considering the quality of the artworks that had accumulated in the Spanish royal collection since the times of the Trastámaras, the Habsburgs, and finally the Bourbons.

Portrait of Queen Isabel II of Spain
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón

Where is the Prado Museum

The museum is in the city center of Madrid, the capital of Spain. It gives its name to the avenue where it majestically stands, the Paseo del Prado, next to El Retiro Park. In 2019 this space became recognized by UNESCO as The Landscape of Light. The museum is also close to the Barrio de las Letras or Literary Quarter. This quaint neighborhood takes its name from the substantial number of Spanish writers that have lived there, and it has a bohemian atmosphere filled with bustling cafes, restaurants, and shops. Two beautiful sites near the Prado Museum are the Botanic Gardens and Saint Jerome the Royal church. It is also just a short walk away from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum. The Prado Museum is one the busiest in the world, a number that keeps growing every year. This is why it is important to plan your visit and purchase your tickets in their website before going:

https://www.museodelprado.es/en/visit/opening-times-and-prices

When To Go and How Much Does it Cost

The Prado Museum only closes three days per year including weekends. It is open from 10 am to 8 pm. There is free admission every day for the last two hours. The general admission is 15 euros, but it is free: for visitors under 18 years old; students between 18 and 25 years old; people with disabilities; people who are legally unemployed’ active teaching staff’ and large families with at least one adult and three children’ or two children if one has a disability. People over 65 years old, youth card holders, and members of large families, pay reduced admission of 7.50 euros. Check out their most frequently asked questions before you go to make sure you have the best experience:

https://content3.cdnprado.net/doclinks/pdf/visita/faq-07julio2022.pdf

What is on right now?

The Prado Museum is a busy place and there are many daily activities. They are also highly active in social media. For example, they do a 10-minute Instagram live session each morning before opening to highlight artworks or announce what’s coming. The session on Wednesday is always in English. Their temporary exhibits are also very innovative pushing the boundaries of traditional narratives. That is the case of Rubens’ Workshop curated by Alejandro Vergara-Sharp, the Senior Curator of the Flemish and Northern Paintings. This exhibition features paintings by the master, works by his assistants, and pieces resulting from their various levels of collaboration. “Viewing these paintings together helps recognize the variations in quality. It is important to remember that all paintings produced in Rubens’ workshop were considered part of his signature style. Even so, his contemporaries (and Rubens himself) valued the works painted entirely by the master more than those produced in the workshop. In this sense, Rubens’ works are akin to the products of certain modern fashion houses or architecture firms.”

https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats-on/exhibition/rubenss-workshop/e7392ff3-e7e8-a35d-ba4b-e3d803c88b92

Rubens Workshop
PHOTOGRAPH BY Museo del Prado website

If you want to know more about the quality in art during the time of Rubens and beyond, Vergara-Sharp has also published this year What is Quality in Art? – A Meditation Based on European Paintings from the 15th to the 18th Centuries (Hannibal Books, 2024) https://hannibalbooks.be/en/what-is-quality-in-art-a-meditation-based-on-european-paintings-from-the-15th-to-the-18th-centuries

What is Quality in Art? 
PHOTOGRAPH BY Emma Cahill Marrón

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Emma Luisa Cahill Marrón

Dr. Emma Luisa Cahill Marrón is a Spanish-American art historian focused on the artistic and cultural exchanges between England and Spain during the Renaissance. Her main line of expertise is the artistic and cultural patronage of Queen Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) in Tudor England. She is part of the research group Art, Power, and Gender from the University of Murcia led by Prof. Noelia García Pérez. She participated in the first edition of The Female Perspective writing about Anthonis Mor’s iconic portrait of Queen Mary I of England painted in 1554 for the Spanish court.