MADRID.- With Meta-painting, the Museo del Prado is offering a new approach to its collection in the latest in a series of exhibitions that began in 2010 with Rubens and continued with Captive Beauty (2013) and Goya in Madrid (2014). This series has aimed to offer visitors the chance to reflect on the Museum’s own collections and to look at its works in a new context which encourages different interpretations. 

Meta-painting proposes a journey that begins with mythological and religious narratives on the origins of artistic activity at the dawn of the modern age and concludes in 1819, the year of the Prado’s foundation. The exhibition thus also celebrates the 197th anniversary of the Museum’s founding as a temple of the arts, signifying their full acceptance as disciplines of social utility.  

Two aspects central to the Prado – the Spanish royal collections and Spanish art – provide the context for the exhibition’s structure. Furthermore, these are two inseparable terms, given that the evolution of Spanish art was determined by the existence of the royal collections. The survey offered by the exhibition is a wide-ranging and varied one, including paintings, drawings, prints, books, medals, examples of the decorative arts and sculptures. Twenty-two of these works have been loaned by eighteen museums and collections, including the Fundación Casa de Alba, the National Gallery in London, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville, the Banco de España and the Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Arts de San Fernando in Madrid.  

All the 137 works in the exhibition refer to art or to images, either as self-portraits of creators such as Titian, Murillo, Bernini and Goya; or because they include other paintings and sculptures, such as Saint Benedict destroying Idols by Ricci and Arachne by Rubens; or because they analyse issues relating to the definition of art and its history, such as José García Hidalgo’s book Principles for studying the very noble and royal art of painting […] and Goya’s Portrait of Jovellanos.  

The exhibition’s “journey” is divided into different phases. Fifteen sections focus on the relationship between art, the artist and society, each one of which looks at a specific issue, among them: the powers attributed to religious images; the role played by the “painting within the painting”; artists’ attempts to break through the pictorial space and continue it towards the viewer; the origins and practice of the idea of artistic tradition; portraits and selfportraits of artists; places for the creation and collecting of art; the origin of the modern concept of art history; the subjectivity that emerged in self-portraits from the Enlightenment onwards; and the importance of the concepts of love, death and fame in the modern artistic discourse.  

The exhibition also represents a tribute by the Museo del Prado to Cervantes on the 400th anniversary of his death as it includes a section on Don Quixote as one of the great examples of self-referential literature, juxtaposed with Las Meninas. Thus, just as Cervantes’ text is a “novel within a novel” so Velázquez’s painting is a “painting on painting” in which the artist not only depicts himself painting but which involves various important issues regarding the potential of the art of painting and the role of the painter.  

Las Meninas remain in Room 12 of the Villanueva Building where it is habitually displayed but it is present in the exhibition through a modern facsimile of part of Laurent’s graphoscope which is displayed alongside editions of the two parts of Don Quixote, reminding visitors that these two masterpieces of the Spanish Golden Age are both reference points in the history of meta-fiction.

 Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Sevilla, 1599 - Madrid, 1660), Las meninas, 1656. Oil on canvas, 318 x 276 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. 

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Burdeos, Francia, 1828), Daedalus watching his son Icarus fall (?) (Album H, 52), c. 1825-28. Black chalk, 191 x 148 mm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. 

Massimo Stanzione (Orta di Atella, Caserta, 1585–Naples, 1656), Sacrifice to Bacchus, c. 1634-1635. Oil on canvas, 237 x 358 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

David Teniers (Antwerp, 1610–Brussels, 1690), The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Picture Gallery at Brussels, c. 1647-51. Oil on copper, 104.8 x 130.4 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pere Borrell y del Caso, Escaping from the Critics, 1874. Oil on canvas, 76 x 63 cm. Madrid, Colección Banco de España.

Tiziano, Self-portrait, 1562. Oil on canvas, 95 x 71 cmc. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Dürer, Self-portrait, 1498. Oil on panel, 52 x 41 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

David Teniers (Antwerp, 1610–Brussels, 1690), The Monkey Sculptor, 1660. Oil on panel, 23 x 32 cmc. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

David Teniers (Antwerp, 1610–Brussels, 1690), The Monkey Painter, ca. 1660. Oil on panel, 24 x 32 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Francisco Tomás Prieto (Salamanca, 1716–Madrid, 1782), Segundo premio de primera clase de la Academia de San Fernando, 1753. Silver-gilt, 44,5 mm diameter. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. 

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Burdeos, Francia, 1828), What does this Spook want? (Álbum C, 123), 1812 - 1814. Brush, oak gall and grey-brown ink on paper, Indian ink wash and traces of black chalk, 205 x 145 mm. Museo Nacional del Prado.

Alonso Sánchez Coello (Benifairó de les Valls, Valencia, 1531/32–Madrid, 1588, Isabel Clara Eugenia and Magdalena Ruiz), 1585-88. Oil on canvas, 207 x 129 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746–Burdeaux, 1828), Self-portrait, 1815. Oil on canvas, 45.8 x 35.6 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Bernardo López Piquer (Valencia 1799–Madrid, 1874), Isabel de Braganza, 1829. Oil on canvas, 258 x 174 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

José García Hidalgo (Villena (Alicante), 1645 - Madrid, 1717), God the Father painting the Immaculate Conception, Ca. 1690. Oil on canvas, 185 x 146 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Romano Antoniazzo (Roma, 1452 - Roma, 1508), Bust of Christ, ca. 1495. Tempera on panel, 87 x 62 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

El Greco (and workshop), The Veil of Saint Veronica, 1586 - 1595. Oil on canvas, 71 x 54 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Giorgio Vasari (Arezzo, 1511 - Florencia, 1574), Saint Luke painting the Virgin, 1567 - 1572. Wash, Pencil, Pencil, Grey-brown ink on dark yellow paper, 264 x 214 mm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Prometheus models the first man, ca. 185. White marble, 60 x 104 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westfalia, 1577 - Amberes, 1640), Prometheus, 1636 - 1637. Oil on panel, 25.7 x 16.6 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Narcissus, 25 - 50. White marble, 116 x 44 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Richard Toutain, Crystal jug with Narcissus and a mermaid on the handle, 1555. Rock crystal / Hyaline quartz, Gold, Silver-gilt, Ruby, 41.5 x 16.6 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Jan Gossier (Amberes, 1600 - Amberes, 1671), Narcissus, 1636 - 1638. Oil on canvas, 97 x 93 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pedro García de Benabarre (Benabarre, Huesca, 1455, 1456), Saint Sebastian speaking to Marcus and Marcellian and Saint Sebastian and Saint Polycarp destroying Idols, ca. 1470. Oil on panel, 160 x 68 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pedro Berruguete (Paredes de Nava (Palencia), 1445 - Madrid (¿?), 1503), Apparition of the Virgin to a Community of Dominicans, 1493 - 1499. Oil on panel, 130 x 86 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Alonso Cano (Granada, 1601 - Granada, 1667), Saint Bernard and the Virgin, 1657-1660. Oil on canvas, 267 x 185 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Francisco Ribalta (Solsona, Lérida, 1565 - Valencia, 1628), Christ embracing Saint Bernard, 1625-1627. Oil on canvas, 158 x 113 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Fray Juan Bautista Maíno (Pastrana (Guadalajara), 1581 - Madrid, 1649), Saint Dominic in Soriano, ca. 1629. Oil on canvas, 228 x 124 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Antonio de Pereda y Salgado (Valladolid, 1611 - Madrid, 1678), Saint Jerome, 1643. Oil on canvas, 104.3 x 84 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Titian (Pieve di Cadore, Belluno, Véneto, 1490 - Venecia, 1576), The Burial of Christ, 1559. Oil on canvas, 136 x 174.5 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Jean Lemaire (Dammartin, 1601 - Gaillon, 1659), Praying Hermit, 1637-1638. Oil on canvas, 163 x 241.5 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Sevilla, 1599 - Madrid, 1660), View of the Gardens at the Villa Medici, Rome, with the statue of Ariadne, ca. 1630. Oil on canvas, 44 x 38 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pompeo Batoni (Lucca, 1708 - Roma, 1787), Francis Basset, I Baron of Dunstanville, 1778. Oil on canvas, 221 x 157 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Sofonisba Anguissola (Attributed to), Elisabeth of Valois holding a portrait of Philip II, 1561-1565. Oil on canvas, 206 x 123 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Gérard David (Attributed to), The Virgin with the Child, ca. 1520. Oil on panel, 45 x 34 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Bernard van Orley (Bruselas?, 1488 - Bruselas, 1541), The Virgin of Louvain, ca. 1520. Oil on panel, 45 x 39 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Juan Sánchez Cotán (Orgaz (Toledo), 1560 - Granada, 1627), Still Life with Game, Vegetables and Fruit, 1602. Oil on canvas, 68 x 88.2 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westfalia, 1577 - Amberes, 1640); Jan Brueghel el Viejo (Bruselas, 1568 - Amberes, 1625), The Virgin and Child in a Painting surrounded by Fruit and Flowers, 1617-1620. Oil on panel, 79.7 x 63.7 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westfalia, 1577 - Amberes, 1640), The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, ca. 1625. Oil on panel, 65.5 x 68 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Sevilla, 1617 - Sevilla, 1682), Nicolás Omazur, 1672. Oil on canvas, 83 x 73 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Titian (Pieve di Cadore, Belluno, Véneto, 1490 - Venecia, 1576), Self-portrait, ca. 1562. Oil on canvas, 86 x 65 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Livio Mehus (Oudenaarde (Paises Bajos), 1621 - Florencia, 1691), The Genius of Painting, ca. 1650. Oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Federico Zuccaro (Sant'Angelo in vado (Las Marcas), 1540 - Ancona, 1609), A dignitary kneeling before a Pope, receiving a chain of office and other rewards, 1570 - 1579. Wash, Pencil, Pencil ground, Grey-brown ink on yellow paper, 232 x 198 mm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Sevilla, 1599 - Madrid, 1660), The Spinners, or the Fable of Arachne, 1655 - 1660. Oil on canvas, 220 x 289 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westfalia, 1577 - Amberes, 1640), The Rape of Europe, 1636-1637. Oil on panel, 18.9 x 13.7 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westfalia, 1577 - Amberes, 1640), The Rape of Europe, 1628-1629. Oil on canvas, 182.5 x 201.5  cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Alonso Sánchez Coello (Benifairó de los Valles, Valencia 1531 – Madrid, 1588), Self-portrait (?), ca 1570. Oil on panel, 41 x 32.5 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Sevilla, 1599 - Madrid, 1660), Francisco Pacheco, ca 1620. Oil on canvas, 41 x 36 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Sevilla, 1599 - Madrid, 1660), Juan Martínez Montañés, ca 1635. Oil on canvas, 109 x 88 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Anton van Dyck (Amberes (Bélgica), 1599 - Blackfriars, Londres (Reino Unido), 1641), Endymion Porter and Anthony van Dyck, ca. 1635. Oil on canvas, 119 x 144 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples, 1598 – Rome, 1680),  Autorretrato, 1635-1638.  Oil on canvas, 46 x 32 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Andrea Sacchi (Nettuno, Roma, 1599 - Roma, 1661), The Painter Francesco Albani, 1635. Oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

.Carlo Maratti (Camerano (Ancona, Le Marche), 1625 - Roma (Lazio), 1713), , ca. 1661. Oil on canvas, 67 x 50 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del PradoThe Painter Andrea Sacchi

.José del Castillo (Madrid, 1737 - Madrid, 1793), , 1780. Oil on canvas, 105 x 160 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del PradoThe Study of Drawing

.Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westfalia, 1577 - Amberes, 1640); Jan Brueghel el Viejo (Bruselas, 1568 - Amberes, 1625), , 1617. Oil on panel, 64.7 x 109.5 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del PradoSight

.Juan Carreño de Miranda (Avilés (Asturias), 1614 - Madrid, 1685), , ca. 1675. Oil on canvas, 201 x 141 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del PradoCharles II

.Luis Paret y Alcázar (Madrid, 1746 - Madrid, 1799), , ca. 1775. Oil on panel, 50 x 64 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del PradoCharles III dining before the Court

.Anton Rafael Mengs (Aussig, Bohemia, 1728 - Roma, 1779), , 1774. Oil on panel, 77 x 61,5 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del PradoRetrato de José Nicolás de Azara

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Burdeos, Francia, 1828), Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, 1798. Oil on canvas, 205 x 133 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Luis Paret y Alcázar (Madrid, 1746 - Madrid, 1799), Self-portrait of the Artist in his Studio, 1775 - 1778. Oil on canvas, 39.8 x 31.8 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

 Luis Paret y Alcázar (Madrid, 1746 - Madrid, 1799), , ca. 1782. Oil on copperplate, 37 x 27.7 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.María de las Nieves Micaela Fourdinier, the Painter's Wife