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Madrid's Prado Museum |
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The world famous Prado Museum was the highlight of our visit to Madrid. In fact, we scooted off to it on the very afternoon of our arrival. We were able to visit a second time as part of our included city tour on September 3rd. The Prado permits flashless still photography. Fortunately, I had some 400 speed film for my 35mm camera. That allowed some snapshots inside the halls.
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Visitors were NOT permitted to use videocams inside the museum. As a consequence, I had to operate my video camera surreptiously--like a spy. That's why some of the pictures below look a little weird. (Most of the "pictures" in this travelogue are actually "frame-grabs" from the video tapes.)
The Prado holds a superb collection of paintings by the great Spanish masters such as Velasquez, Goya, Murillo, and El Greco. It is less well-known for its sculptures--but the Prado's many Roman statues and artifacts introduced us to Spain's ancient heritage. We learned that Spain was the birthplace of the emperor Hadrian and many other Roman notables. That was news to us!
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Among the Roman statuary, I was enthused over a wonderfully sensuous sculpture entitled "Clitia." So was Dot. (But we both think the choice of a name for the young woman was unfortunate.) Despite the lousy choice of names, you've gotta admit that this is a truly beautiful artwork.
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Clitia stands in stark contrast to some of the Prado's other great works--which candidly are sometimes gruesome. Saint Sebastian's arrow-riddled torso is a case in point. We might observe that now he has been re-united with his legs. They were "lost" and only accidently rediscovered. I don't know who painted the two other ghastly canvases. I've included them here to keep in the spirit of grisly horror that seems to reflect some of the "masterpieces." What do you think?
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Even some of the renowned works by the masters reflect cruelty. Here a member of our group is listening carefully to commentary about a famous painting by Francisco de Goya. The painting, entitled "The Executions on Principe Pio Hill," made Goya into a kind of war correspondent. It depicted the savagery of the conflict when Spain was fighting Napoleon. |
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But the Prado wasn't all grim. There were many charming and elegant works. Examples? Here's a famous Velasquez. (Apparently he was fond of painting young girls in abundant skirts.) This is about as much skirt as any young lady can manage!
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We viewed paintings by hosts of artists, but we would have to wait until later to see El Greco's most famous work. It hangs, not in the Prado, but in the little chapel of Santo Tome in Toledo |
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