The Sale of the Seventeenth Century - Report from Europe - exhibit at Museo del Prado, Spain - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, May, 2002 by Miriam Kramer

In 1623 the Prince of Wales, later Charles I, spent six months in Madrid attempting to break the impasse over negotiations for a marriage between himself and the Infanta Maria, the sister of Philip IV. The wedding never took place, but the young prince was extensively feted by the Spanish court. He took the opportunity to seek out paintings and other works of art to take back to England, and he marveled at the treasures in the Spanish royal collection.

When Charles I was defeated in the English Civil War and executed in 1649, his magnificent art collection was put up for sale. Philip IV was eager to secure the best works, some of which Charles had bought in Spain during his visit. Over the next four years, largely through covert means, Philip acquired some two hundred paintings and other works of art from the English royal collection and from English aristocratic collectors, all of which had been put up for sale by Parliament.

An exhibition entitled The Sale of the Century: Art istic Relations between Spain and Great Britain, 1604-1655, which charts this story, is on view at the Museo Nacional del Prado until June 2. It unites many works of art that are scattered throughout Europe. The sponsors of the exhibition are the Fundacion Winterthur and the Sociedad Estatal Espana, Nuevo Milenio, and the curators are Jonathan Brown a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and Sir John Elliott of the University of Oxford. Illustrated catalogues in both Spanish and English are available. The English version, distributed in North America by Yale University Press, may be ordered by telephoning 800-288-2129.