October 26, 2012
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1617–82, Seville | The martyrdom of Saint Andrew (El martirio de San Andres) 1675–82 | Oil on canvas | Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid | © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Earlier this year, when I read in the local press that Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado was
coming to Brisbane, I was taken
back to the days of my childhood in the village classroom, gazing at the
reproductions in our school’s big, heavy art book.
We turn the pages as the teacher recounts the lives of Murillo, Goya, Zurbarán
… She then takes us to the portraits of the kings, queens and religious leaders.
The art class
always concludes with the wedding portrait of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabelle of Castile.
We are to remember that they financed Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the
New World, thus setting the foundations of the first world empire of the modern
era, and that they introduced the true God to the natives of those faraway
lands.
My first visit to ‘Portrait of Spain:
Masterpieces from the Prado’ makes me nostalgic for the village school, for the
art books and educational trips to The Museo Nacional del Prado (the Prado) in Madrid,
and I look without seeing.
On my second visit I fully appreciate how
brilliantly the selection and sequential arrangement of the 100 or so art works
represent life and art over more than three centuries of Spanish history.
I also realise that the strands of
nationalistic pride of my childhood and youth have long been replaced by
admiration for the great masters, whose creative genius will forever enrich the
consciousness of mankind.
But the Prado experience is not over. A
few days later, I am informed that my book, A Hatful of Cherries,has been selected for discussion
by the QAGOMA Members Book Club. The word selected is
music to my ears. I am further honoured when research reveals this is not an
ordinary book club. In essence it is a complementary discourse on QAGOMA
exhibitions, since the books chosen inform discussion about the social and
cultural context behind the works on display. In other words art and literature
come together to enhance the reader’s understanding of both.
I must not end this brief narrative
without saying that Brisbane,
the city I now call home, has a cultural heart I very much admire.
Félix Calvino
____________
You can view ‘Portrait of Spain:
Masterpieces from the Prado’ until 5pm Sunday 4 November. The publication of
the same name includes entries on the works in the exhibition alongside
full-colour illustrations and artist biographies and is available from the
Gallery Store, Exhibition Shop and online.
