Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado. Este artículo no está disponible.Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado

Handsomely designed and produced, this stunning book highlights sensual paintings from the Spanish royal collections of the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Many of the featured artists were court painters under sovereigns whose tastes influenced the art world of the 16th and 17th centuries. This superb selection of twenty-eight paintings includes works by Jan Breughel, Guercino, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez. Included is Titian’s Reclining Venus with Cupid and a Musician, probably painted by the artist for Charles V, and several works by Rubens, who painted a considerable number of works for the Spanish court. Informative catalogue entries accompany an essay by Javier Portús on the Spanish royal taste in collecting and the role of painting within European politics of the day and a contemporary response to understanding the nude in Renaissance and Baroque painting by Jill Burke.

Thomas J. Loughman is associate director of program and planning, Kathleen M. Morris is Sylvia and Leonard Marx Director of Collections and Exhibitions and curator of decorative arts, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt is interim curator of paintings and sculpture, all at the Clark Art Institute.