Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection

The Instituto Cervantes is the official Spanish language and culture centre created by the Spanish government in 1991. The Instituto's mission is to spread the knowledge and appreciation of the Spanish universe by enabling people to engage with the language and culture of Spanish-speaking countriesworldwide. The Instituto Cervantes is the official place to learn Spanish in London.

Instituto Cervantes - London

Lectures with Daniel Ralston (National Gallery) and Xavier Bray (Wallace Collection)followed by a round table chaired by Amaya Alzaga

Instituto Cervantes London

Spanish paintings at the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection.Event organised by UNED (National University of Distance Education)and Instituto Cervantes.In English.As is well known, Great Britain treasures important collections of Spanish art (including paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts), which have been studied by highly distinguished scholars such as Enriqueta Harris and Nigel Glendinning in England, and María de los Santos García-Felguera and María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco in Spain.The first Spanish works found their way into British collections in the 18th century, primarily through the art market. After the defeat of the French, Wellington brought to his London residence the paintings he had seized at the Battle of Vitoria, including those originally from the Buen Retiro Palace, which had been gifted to him by Ferdinand VII. Throughout the 19th century, interest in Spain grew steadily, a country that had been left out of the Grand Tour but came to be seen as a ‘new Orient’: picturesque and nearby. English Romantic travellers toured the country, following in the footsteps of Richard Ford, who in 1845 had published his Manual for Travellers in Spain and Readers at Home, which they used as an indispensable travel guide throughout the second half of the 19th century.Among the English collections that house Spanish paintings - in addition to Auckland Castle, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Apsley House and the Bowes Museum, among others - two of London's most important public institutions stand out for their notable collections of Spanish art: the National Gallery, which dedicates a specific room to its masterpieces, including Velázquez's Rokeby Venus, and the Wallace Collection.Two renowned specialists in Spanish art, Daniel Ralston, Curator of Spanish Painting at the National Gallery, and Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, will give two lectures about their respective collections. This will be followed by a round table discussion, moderated by Dr. Amaya Alzaga (UNED), in which various aspects related to these collections will be debated.The two experts will examine the most important paintings of the Spanish school held by these institutions. They will address topics such as the English taste for Spanish paintings, with particular emphasis on the preference for genre scenes over religious ones, the gradual discovery of the great masters, including Murillo, Velázquez, Zurbarán, El Greco and Goya, and the different ways in which Spanish works entered these collections.Chaired by Amaya Alzaga (from UNED)AMAYA ALZAGAAmaya Alzaga is a Professor of Art History at UNED. After dedicating her doctoral thesis to the figure of the painter Raimundo de Madrazo and the artistic environment of his time, she has focused her research on art collecting and painting from the 17th to the 19th centuries. She has been a member of eight research projects, a visiting researcher at various international institutions, and in 2022 she curated the exhibition French Taste, which presented a journey through the most significant French artworks preserved in Spain. She is currently working on a new exhibition about the painter Raimundo de Madrazo at the Mapfre Foundation in Madrid and the Meadows Museum in Dallas. DANIEL SOBRINO RALSTONDaniel Sobrino Ralston is the CEEH Associate Curator of Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery and, with Dexter Dalwood, co-curator of the current exhibition José María Velasco: A View of Mexico. He received his PhD from Columbia University and has lectured and published widely on Spanish art from the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, contributing to recent exhibition catalogues at the Gallerie d’Italia, Velázquez. Un segno grandioso (2024); the National Gallery, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art (2023) and Saint Francis of Assisi (2023); and the Kimbell Art Museum, Murillo: From Heaven to Earth (2022). XAVIER BRAYDr Xavier Bray is an art historian specialising in Spanish art and Director of the Wallace Collection, London, since 2016. He completed his PhD in 1999 at Trinity College, Dublin, on Goya as a painter of religious imagery. He was Chief Curator at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London and the Museum of Fine Arts, Bilbao, as well as Assistant Curator at the National Gallery. He has curated a wide range of exhibitions including El Greco, Velázquez, The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting &amp; Sculpture 1600-1700, Murillo &amp; Justino de Neve: The Art of Friendship, Goya: The Portraits and Ribera: The Art of Violence. Since joining the Wallace Collection, he has overseen and co-curated several exhibitions including Richard Wallace: The Collector, Henry Moore: The Helmet Heads, Manolo Blahnik: An Enquiring Mind, Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, Frans Hals: The Male Portraits, Faithful and Fearless: Portraits of Dogs, Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King and most recently with Sir Grayson Perry, Delusions of Grandeur. La pintura española en las colecciones de la National Gallery y la Wallace Collection.Organizado por Organizado por la UNED y el Instituto Cervantes. En inglés.Como es sabido, Gran Bretaña atesora importantes colecciones de arte español (de pintura, escultura y artes suntuarias), de las que se han ocupado estudiosos de la talla de Enriqueta Harris y Nigel Glendinning, en Inglaterra, o María de los Santos García-Felguera y María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco en España. En el siglo XVIII ingresaron las primeras obras españolas en las colecciones británicas, fundamentalmente a través del mercado de arte. Tras la derrota de los franceses, Wellington llevó a su residencia de Londres los cuadros que incautó en la batalla de Vitoria y que, provenientes del palacio del Buen Retiro, le regaló Fernando VII. A lo largo del siglo XIX fue acrecentándose el interés por España, un país que había quedado fuera del Grand Tour y que pasó a ser considerado como un “nuevo Oriente”, pintoresco y cercano. Los viajeros románticos ingleses recorrieron el país siguiendo los pasos de Richard Ford, que en 1845 había publicado su Manual para viajeros por España y lectores en casa, que utilizaron como guía de viaje indispensable durante toda la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. Entre las colecciones inglesas que conservan cuadros españoles -además de Auckland Castle, la Dulwich Picture Gallery, Apsley House o Bowes Museum, entre otras- destacan especialmente los fondos de pintura española conservados en dos de las instituciones públicas más significativas de Londres: la National Gallery -que dedica una sala concreta a sus obras maestras, entre las que destaca La Venus del espejo de Velázquez- y la Wallace Collection. Dos reputados especialistas en arte español Daniel Ralston, Conservador de pintura española de la National Gallery y Xavier Bray, Director de la Wallace Collection ofrecerán dos exposiciones sobre sus respectivas colecciones. Posteriormente, se llevará a cabo una mesa redonda, moderada por la Dra. Amaya Alzaga (UNED), en la que se debatirán diversos aspectos relacionados con dichas colecciones. Ambos expertos trazarán un recorrido por los cuadros de la escuela española más importantes que conservan estas instituciones. Abordarán cuestiones como el gusto inglés por la pintura española -que valoró especialmente las escenas de género frente a las religiosas-, el progresivo descubrimiento de los grandes maestros -Murillo, Velázquez, Zurbarán, El Greco y Goya- o las diferentes vías por las que las obras españolas entraron en estas colecciones. Modera Amaya Alzaga (UNED) Amaya Alzaga es Profesora de Historia del Arte en la UNED. Tras dedicar su tesis doctoral a la figura del pintor Raimundo de Madrazo y el ambiente artístico de su época, ha centrado sus investigaciones en el coleccionismo artístico y la pintura de los siglos XVII al XIX. Ha sido miembro de ocho proyectos de investigación, investigadora invitada por distintas instituciones internacionales y en 2022 comisarió la exposición El gusto francés, en la que se presentó un recorrido por las obras de arte francesas más significativas que se conservan en España. Actualmente está trabajando en una nueva exposición sobre el pintor Raimundo de Madrazo con sede en la Fundación Mapfre de Madrid y el Meadows Museum de Dallas.

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Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection

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