Prado Museum

The Prado museum is one of the biggest and most significant museums of European art.

The museum building was built during the reign of Charles the Third, King of Spain (1759-1788). His best architect Juan de Villanueva designed the Prado Museum. He also designed The City Hall of Madrid and the Botanical garden. Unfortunately the King of Spain died before the museum was finished and only his grandson, Ferdinand Seventh initiated the work again. Thereby the Prado Museum was eventually opened in 1819.

Now it is a huge museum which contains more than 5 000 paintings by Spanish, Italian, Flemish, German, Dutch, French and British masters.

The Prado museum has the world’s best collection of Spanish paintings including Diego Velazquez, Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Francisco Goya and El Greco.

The best known work at the museum is "Las Meninas" by Diego Velazquez (1656). It shows an atelier of Velazquez in the Royal House in Madrid. The painter is working on the portrait of King Phillip the Fourth and his wife Marianne. You can see them in the reflection of the mirror. In the middle of the scene stands their infanta, the 5-year old Margarita with her retinue. Velazquez creates an impression of happiness in the Royal family which is embodied in their daughter. It is the only picture where the painter shows the King and the Queen together, though indistinctly.

Standing out amongst the Italian painters shown in the Prado Museum are Andrea Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Veronese and especially Titian with his works “Danae” and “Charles V at Mühlberg”.

Other outstanding painters that should be mentioned are Van der Weyden, Rubens, Joachim Patiner, Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt.