The Magnificence of the Spanish Baroque and its Legacy

5 – 8 April 2016

Madrid, once the centre of the Spanish empire, is one of Europe’s most vibrant and elegant cities with a rich cultural and artistic heritage. Amongst its highlights are two large collections. One is the world-renowned Prado boasting works by Tintoretto, Velazquez (‘Las Meninas’), Jose Ribera, and El Greco. The other is the equally impressive Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, located in the eighteenth century Palacio de Villahermosa, which has almost 1000 works on display, including Renaissance and Baroque masters. We will also visit other outstanding collections of Spanish masters with works by Zurbarán, Ribera and Murillo: the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum, and the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, a former convent for nuns of the Royal household. We will trace the legacy of the Baroque in Goya’s ceiling frescoes at the little Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida where this great artist is buried and also in the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, home to Picasso’s legendary ‘Guernica.’