What a camel in New York reveals about medieval Spain.
Location Country: Spain
If you suddenly found yourself the heir to a royal throne that your family members felt belonged to them, then what steps would you take to advertise that you are indeed the rightful inheritor?
Gil de Siloé, The Tomb of Juan ...
Indigenous Nahua artists depict the traumatic events of the Spanish conquest, offering an alternative narrative to the one written by the Spaniards.
Indigenous Images of the Conquest of Mexico
Two years before the Spanish expel the Jews and begin their invasion of the Americas, an artist paints an image of redemption.
Bartolomé Bermejo, Piedad with Canon Lluís Desplà
An imagined garden teeming with curious creatures and bizarre structures. What are we to think?
Spotlight — Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of ...
The sculptor Martínez Montañés was the “God of Wood,” but it’s the painter Pacheco who brought this work to life.
Juan Martínez Montañés and Francisco Pacheco, Christ ...
The severe exterior of this palace complex belies its highly decorative interior, once filled with art.
El Escorial, Spain
These statues of the Virgin and Child often held relics. Designed to be mobile, they starred in parades and plays.
“Throne of Wisdom” sculptures
Haacke documents the provenance of a Seurat sketch held in a bank vault to lay bare the commodification of art.
Hans Haacke, Seurat’s “Les Poseuses” (small version), ...
Delicate and brightly colored, this statue from Spain combines elegance with solidity, the human with the divine.
Virgin from Ger
Wild! Everything seems transient in this otherworldly scene, but El Greco’s bold colors stay with us.
El Greco, Adoration of the Shepherds
Ribera depicts the moment before St. Philip’s death, yet the martyr’s body distorts and collapses before our eyes.
Jusepe de Ribera, The Martyrdom of Saint ...
With its sumptuous foliage and gold detail, this painting celebrates the decorative and captures the spiritual.
Fra Angelico, The Annunciation and Life of ...
Mantegna’s draped figures resurrect classical sculpture, but the landscape was from life—that’s Renaissance Mantua.
Andrea Mantegna, Dormition (or Death) of the ...
These frescoes covered the thick walls of a Romanesque church. Once isolated in the Pyrenees, they adorn a museum.
Circle of the Master of Pedret, The ...
Romanesque sculptors adorned the tops of columns with bible stories. These scenes are bold, emotional, and direct.
Historiated capitals, Church of Sant Miquel, Camarasa
This puzzling painting about painting is half genre scene, half family portrait. But what’s on the large canvas?
Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas
Goya depicts the king’s family in scintillating detail… but the sparkle of the monarchy is beginning to fade.
Francisco Goya, The Family of Charles IV
This “miraculous” building brought art, prestige, and economic prosperity to a struggling port city.
Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Bilbao
Don’t strike the messenger! Interrupted at his forge, a horrified Vulcan looks ready to hammer Apollo.