Vocesdecuenca / JJD
From this week until September 1, 73 works from Madrid’s Prado Museum are on display in China, specifically at the Pudong Museum of Art (MAP), located in Lujiazui, in the Pudong district (Shanghai). Titled “Ages of Splendor. A History of Spain in the Museo del Prado”, will represent an unprecedented opportunity for the Chinese public to enjoy a selection of outstanding pieces, including 3 Grecos, 4 Velázquez, 6 Rubens and 8 Goyas.
An exhibition that is curated by a man from Cuenca, Pedro José Martínez Plaza, who is curator of the 19th Century Painting Area at the Prado Museum. “In it, Cuenca has a special role, given that, among other reasons, I was born and raised in Cuenca and it seemed appropriate that within the selection there were at least two works clearly linked to Cuenca and its province,” he explains to Voces by mail. electronic.
One of these works is ‘Julián Romero and his patron saint’, an oil on canvas attributed to a follower of Domenico Theotocopoulos ‘El Greco’ and dated between 1612 and 1618. «The sitter appears dressed in the habit of a knight of Santiago, kneeling and prayerful. Next to him, standing and also looking up, an armed knight who, with doubts, can be recognized with Saint Louis, king of France, mirror in the time of the Christian soldier. On one of the sides of the basement you can read an inscription that identifies the man from Santiago as Julián Romero, the one of the Feats (AC. 1518-1578), a brave soldier who first reached the rank of captain of the Tercios and then that of field master, in addition to being commander of Santiago several times. He was one of the architects of Philip II’s triumph at San Quentin (1557), and participated in important campaigns in Holland, together with the Duke of Alba, and in Italy,” states the official website of the Prado Museum.
The inscription maintains an important error about the character, since it states that he was born in Antequera (Málaga), when the birth of Julián Romero, of Biscayan paternal origins, occurred in the province of Cuenca, probably in Huélamo. He was family linked with Torrejoncillo de Huete, the current Torrejoncillo de Huete.
Martínez Plaza highlights that in the text of the catalog the Cuenca origin of this painting is mentioned in China, although there was no space on the cartouche to make that indication.
This Cuenca connection is detailed more in another work, ‘Las Huertas (Cuenca)’, painted in 1910 by Aureliano de Beruete y Moret. The painting reflects the landscape of the Hoz del Huécar. «I wanted the exhibition to close with this work, as a kind of invitation to visit Spain. In addition, this landscape has a special sign, and it describes some characteristics of our city,” says the commissioner. With almost 30 million inhabitants, Shanghai is the most populated city in China and the third in the world.
The Prado Museum, on its official website, explains that during his visit to Cuenca in the summer of 1910, Beruete became especially interested in this part of the city that overlooks the Huécar River. “The very low point of view allows us to show the fertility of that area of orchards and at the same time underline the uniqueness of the urban architecture, where the convent of San Pablo stands out, on the left.”
The exhibition
The exhibition of Chinese lands is articulated around different stories and offers complementary discourses. Through the eleven rooms, the visitor will be able to learn about the social and political evolution of Spain for more than four hundred years, from the reign of Charles V to the beginning of the 20th century, thanks also to the different educational resources, such as timelines and family trees. Special attention is also paid to the development of certain genres such as mythology, still life and religious painting, each of which occupies specific rooms, highlighting the one dedicated to the nude, which evokes the Reserved Room that existed in the Prado during its first decades. of walking.
This sample is completed with the loan of the Mona Lisain a special section called In Focus: this presentation allows us to learn about the history of the painting from the 18th century – when it was in the Royal Collections – until its restoration in the Prado in 2011. Its loan is added to that of the other 69 paintings and will be completed with 3 works on paper -also from the Museum- that show the state of the Mona Lisa before 2011.
