Expeditions to the Americas, and the often destructive colonization and evangelization that followed, helped the Spanish monarchs to amass a great fortune based on indigenous labor and natural resources.
1400–1600
Beginner's guide
During the Renaissance, the Spanish empire extended throughout western Europe and beyond.
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The Cantino Planisphere
The Cantino planisphere, made by an unknown Portuguese chartmaker depicts what the Portuguese knew of the world in 1502.
Josefa de Óbidos, Christ Child as Salvator Mundi
Josefa de Ayala, commonly called Josefa de Óbidos, is the only woman known to have worked as a painter in Portugal in the seventeenth century.
Gold S. Vincente of João III
St Vincent, who is portrayed on this coin, was the patron saint of Portugal and of navigation
Royal monastery of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
The monastery is an outstanding repository of four centuries of Spanish religious architecture.
University of Alcalá de Henares
Founded by Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros in the early 16th century, Alcalá de Henares was the world's first planned university city.
The Council of Trent and the call to reform art
The impact of the Council of Trent on Catholicism is indisputable, and similarly on a great deal of art made after it ended
The Tower of Belém
The Torre de Belém (Tower of Belém) remains one of the main symbols of Portugal’s global expansion during the so-called Age of Exploration
Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina, Head of Christ
Renaissance artist Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina allows viewers to come eye-to-eye with the face of Christ.
Sacred geometry in a mudéjar-style ceiling
A painted and gilded wooden ceiling made in renaissance Spain that was eventually acquired by William Randolf Hearst for Hearst Castle.
The Sopetrán Lamentation in wood
A theatre box in wood, the Sopetrán Lamentation is a stunning 15th-century sculpture from Spain.
Treasure from Spain, lusterware as luxury
Ceramics that shimmer like gold! Lusterware ceramics made in Manises, Spain in the 15th century were some of the most desirable objects of their time.
Alejo Fernández, The Virgin of the Navigators
If we read Alejo Fernández's The Virgin of the Navigators closely, we can learn an enormous amount about Spain’s role in exploration, trade and commerce, conquest and colonization, and slavery.
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