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This exhibition has been organised in conjunction with the presentation of the catalogue raisonné of the Museo del Prado’s collection of Dutch Paintings.
Probably the least known collection within the Museum’s holdings, since the late 1940s
the space allotted to it in the galleries has been gradually reduced
to the point where it is, as I say, almost unknown today, not just to the general public but also to specialists.
The collection allows us to appreciate the evolution of taste that took place with the change of dynasty from the Spanish Habsburgs to the Bourbons.
In order to show this, the exhibition has been organised into three sections.
The first section features the Dutch paintings that have now been identified as belonging to the last Habsburgs, Philip IV and Charles II.
The second section includes a group of paintings acquired by successive Bourbon monarchs,
starting with Philip V and Isabella Farnese, who were extremely enthusiastic collections.
They acquired a large number of Dutch paintings as at that period, in the 18th century,
this school had become fashionable at all the European courts including that of Spain.
Their successors, Charles III and Charles IV, continued to expand this aspect of the collection.
The third section focuses on new acquisitions,
comprising both paintings that have entered the Museum as bequests and donations as well as gifts in lieu of tax and direct purchases.
The overall intention is to show how, despite the limited representation of this school in the Museum,
it is a living collection that continues to grow and has certainly not been forgotten.
An extremely important aspect of the process of cataloguing and of the exhibition is the associated restoration campaign of the Dutch paintings that has been undertaken.
Nearly twenty paintings have been restored with spectacular results.
These paintings were extremely dirty and it was not really possible to appreciate the quality of the brushwork
and the subtle gradations of colour that are characteristic of Dutch painting. Following cleaning, these have once again become evident.
The painting on the front cover of the catalogue is one of the most important works in the collection, along with the Rembrandt,
and its restoration is an interesting story.
From the time it entered the Royal Collection up to 1992 when it was restored,
what is now the head of Holofernes was a blue jug.
Following the publication of a drawing of the painting and of another identical version of the painting in a private collection,
it was realised that the blue jug was probably an area of over-painting, and x-rays confirmed that underneath it was Holofernes’ head.
Previously described in earlier inventories as a fable, the painting could now be re-titled Judith and Holofernes.
This restoration campaign can be considered a truly important undertaking.
It has allowed for a re-evaluation of many paintings that could not previously be fully appreciated and has revealed the quality of the Museo del Prado’s collection of Dutch paintings.