So we did the Prado again. Eight hours.
Eight hours of glory. We have learned how to do these half dozen of
the greatest museums in the world. You fortify yourselves,
intellectually, aesthetically, and nutrionally, and then you go,
seeking out your favorites, anticipating where the greatest crowds
will be and avoiding them, taking breaks, taking sustenance,
returning once more unto the breach, seeking ever more. Leaving when
you're done and can do no more. Then reveling in the experience,
registering what new you have learned, and memorializing it. So it
was that day.
We paid our admission and picked up our
audioguides and headed immediately for 56A or was it 56B and Bosch's
Garden of Delights. It's not even remotely Spanish—it was
among the Flemish masterpieces looted by the Spanish in their
Netherlands wars of the 16th and 17th
centuries--but it is always the biggest draw in this museum. Items in
the gift shoppes confirm this: Vicki almost bought a Jim Thompson
pashmina of the Heaven panel...would really have Thai'd things
together. A museum that is home to Titian and Velasquez and El Greco
and Ribera and Murillo and Goya and more! And we had it to yourselves
for half an hour, and then more Bosch, and then a big Elder Brueghel that
was discovered and added only in 2012. We went to the cafe for
sustenance and a break, and then headed back for the tour proper,
roughly chronological, mostly painting, more masterpieces than you'd
see in a whole course on Western European art. (The same can be said
of those other half dozen greatest museums). Dozens of Rubens;
Tintorettos, scores of Titians; and then the Spanish painters. Yes,
there's Las Meninas. He used only half the giant canvas! And
the 3rd of May, and Saturn. And somehow back there a
Botticelli trio on a story from Boccaccio, a type of Botticelli we have not seen before.
When we visited in 2010, there was a
strict no fotos policy and the staff to enforce it. I didn't
dare. In 2013, there seem fewer staff, many covering two rooms, but
again I didn't dare. Nor did anyone else. Much to my surprise,
however, the Prado now allows you to grab pix off its website—they
didn't do this is 2010—so I'll grab and post just a few below to
convey our interests and delights. It's a great, great museum. We'll
be back!
PS Caravaggio gets very high billing at the Prado currently; on the basis solely of his early David and Goliath (starring someone else as Goliath); such is the attraction currently of Caravaggio.
PPS "Pedro Pablo Rubens" still cracks me up!
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| Hieronymous Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights |
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| 3rd panel of the Botticelli wedding allegory from Boccaccio |
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| El Greco, St. Andrew and Someone Else |
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| Velasquez, Las Meninas |
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| Goya's 3rd of May |
1 comment:
I think that Rick Steves says that this is his favorite museum. We loved it, too. Glad you are still having fun.
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