Frick Collection Highlights Spanish Art in Fall 2010
By STAN PARCHIN
July 26, 2010
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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Spanish, 1599-1660). King Philip IV of Spain (1644). Oil on canvas. 129.86 x 99.38 cm (51.1 x 39.1 in.). The Frick Collection. |
New York's Frick Collection is paying special tribute to the Spanish Old Masters in Fall 2010 with two special exhibitions whose schedules thankfully overlap. The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya runs from October 5, 2010 to January 9, 2011. The King at War: Velázquez's Portrait of Philip IV is on view from October 26, 2010 to January 23, 2011.
The Spanish Manner... presents more than 50 drawings from public and private collections in the Northeast, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hispanic Society of America, The Morgan Library & Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Spanning the 17th through the 19th Century, the show's works include: spectacular red chalk drawings by Jusepe de Ribera; rapid sketches and painting-like wash drawings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo; and 22 works on paper by Francisco de Goya, whose late drawings were the subject of a highly acclaimed exhibition at the Frick. The installation is a rare opportunity to study Goya's images (mostly from his private albums) within the context of ones executed by his Spanish predecessors.
The King at War... is a dossier exhibition whose focus is King Philip IV of Spain (1644) by Diego Velázquez, painted at the zenith of the Baroque artist's career. The fascinating portrait of the ruler, atypically attired in military apparel, was completed near the line of battle in three sittings. It was soon displayed under a Madrid church's gold-embroidered canopy to strongly suggest that monarchy was a divinely sanctioned form of government.
The painting was recently cleaned at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's paintings conservation laboratory for the first time in over 60 years. Yellowing varnish was carefully removed to reveal the work's brilliant original surface. Microscopy, x-radiography and infrared reflectography were used to examine the portrait, determine its condition, decide on a course of conservation and see what lies beneath what's visible to the naked eye. Velázquez's likeness of Philip IV is displayed with original research and the technical studies' amazing results.
