Lucas Cranach I (1472-1553), Judith with the Head of Holofernes, ca. 1520-1537, oil on wood panel, 34 ¼ x 32 ½ in

MEXICO CITY.- To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Museo Nacional de San Carlos, in collaboration with the Museo de Arte de Ponce de Puerto Rico present, through October 20, the exhibition Masterpieces of European Painting from the Museo de Arte de Ponce.

Forty years ago, in the city of Ponce, a patron of fine arts saw one of his greatest dreams become true by building an art museum with a world-class collection for the enjoyment of all Puerto Ricans.

The relentless labor of Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) founder, don Luis A. Ferré has positioned the institution amongst the most important museums of the Hispanic world. It is also a cultural meeting point between the avant-garde and the traditional, the national and the international, nature and the creation of man. It is a place where freedom of expression, dialogue, education and creativity are encouraged.

The Museo de Arte de Ponce was conceived in an unusual manner, because as it rarely happens, don Luis A. Ferré relinquished the privilege of privately enjoying the magnificent collection, giving his acquisitions instead to be incorporated to the patrimony that constitutes it and which today and always has been the MAP.

Don Luis also provided the funds for the construction of the building that we are renovating today and from its creation he helped by making available and obtaining the necessary funds for its operation.

Curated by Cheryl Hartup and Richard Aste, the show is conformed by 60 paintings that come from the archives of the Puerto Rican museum; the paintings offer the viewers a trip through the paintings made by the great masters of European art from the 14th to the 20th centuries. In this way, the exhibit is organized around seven themes that respond to groups made from their source and in chronological order.

From the Spanish school there are works of art made by Claudio Coello, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Luis de Morales El divino, José de Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Joaquín Sorolla.

While the Flemish school presents paintings made by Joos Van Cleve, Pieter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck, to mention just a few examples.

French art includes the artistic labor from Gustave Doré, Philippe de Champagne, Charles le Brun and Gustave Moreau.

From Holland selected artists are Salomon de Bray, David Teniers The younger and Cornelis Cornelisz Van Haarlem.

The British school is represented by works from Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Benjamín West, James Ward and John Everett Millais, among others.

Italian painting offers works made by Sisto Badalocchio, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, Luca di Tommè, Francesco Furini and Bernardo Strozzi.

As an example of other European schools the show includes paintings by Lucas Cranach The elder, Johan Georg Platzer, Angélica Kauffmann and Lovis Corinth.