Spanish pantheon of European masterworks
Among the greatest museums in the world, the Museo Nacional del Prado opened to the public in 1819 and houses an unsurpassed collection of European art from the 12th through 19th centuries. Some 1,300 of more than 20,000 works in the collection are currently on display in the main buildings, including some of the greatest highlights of art history, such as “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch, “Gentleman with Hand on his Chest” by El Greco, “The Assumption of the Virgin” by Andrea Mantegna, “The Holy Family” by Raphael, “Carlos V in Mülhberg” by Titian, Albrecht Dürer’s “Self-Portrait,” “The Three Graces” by Peter Paul Rubens and “The Family of Charles IV” by Goya. Not least among the triumphs here is “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez, an artist who was instrumental in bringing many of the Italian masters into the Spanish Royal Collection, which forms the core of the museum’s impressive holdings.
