Annie Leibovitz has become part of Spain’s history. His spectacular photographs of King Felipe and Letizia already hang on the walls of the Bank of Spain collection. Superb artistic quality images taken by some of the most influential and prestigious photographers of recent decades. Thus, the centuries-old tradition of stocking portraits of all kings since the 18th century under the walls of banking institutions is followed. Before the current King and Queen, the descendants of Philip VI were immortalized in this unique gallery.
© GTRESThe Gallery of the Bank of Spain has become one of the best of its kind over the centuries to study the evolution of official portraiture in Spain since the Enlightenment. Not only because of the historical importance of its heroes, but because of the quality of the great artists who painted them. Beginning with Francisco de Goya, author of the first six portraits commissioned by the Banco de San Carlos, one of the predecessor institutions of the Bank of Spain, continuing with Vicente López or more recent artists. End with Isabel Quintanilla, Carmen Laffón and LeibovitzAn expert portraitist and chronicler of the most prominent popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries.
© Collection of the Bank of SpainCharles III, founder of the bank
Carlos III, the founder of what later became the Bank of Spain, was immortalized on several occasions for the entity. Goya painted an oil on his canvas in the 18th century. For one of them, 10,000 riyals were offered. In the first one created by the artist, the king appears as a hunter, with a strange face, a large nose and sunken face. Also from the collection of the Banco de San Carlos is a painting from the workshop of Mariano Salvador Mayella with a necklace with golden fleece and great cross of Saint-Esprit and San Gennaro, necklace, band and great cross. Royal and Distinguished Order of Carlos III.
Charles IV and Maria Louisa of Parma
Charles IV, hunter, The seventh son of Charles III and Maria Amalia of Saxony, he was captured in 1789 by his chamber painter Mariano Salvador Maiella. In a Bank of Spain portrait, the king wears purple velvet, similar to other examples from this period such as Goa, which enhances his royal status. He wears the Golden Fleece, which hangs from a magnificent jewel of diamonds, which he wore in some of Goa’s early portraits. The bands of the order of Charles III are seen, the cross of which he holds on his breast, the one of Saint Gennaro of Naples and the one of Saint Espiritu French and he holds the baton of command of the army with the royal crown, on a velvet cushion. The face is certainly taken perfectly, but it does not reach the dignity of those painted by Goya. A few years earlier, when Charles IV was Prince of Asturias, he too had been immortalized. wife of Charles IV, Maria Luisa of Parma She was also depicted as a princess of Asturias so that people would know about future kings.
Ferdinand VII and his various portraits
Fernando VII Bank of Spain has several full-length and close-up portraits of Luis de la Cruz y Rios, Zacharias González Velázquez, and Vicente López Portana. All of them contain elements indicating the model’s rank, its responsibility and its respectability. Like Don Felipe, he wears the Captain General’s uniform and various decorations as well as the Golden Fleece.
A most magnificent portrait of Isabel II
Elizabeth II as child and adult. At just eight years old, the queen is posed in a full-length effigy standing in front of the throne, under a canopy and next to a pedestal, holding her own glove with her right hand in a symbolic regal gesture. Although she wears a child’s dress, it already conforms to the rules of the court and incorporates some elements of a grown woman. A deed signed by Antonio Maria Esquivel and Suarez de Urbina. The bank also has a copy of a painting that Vicente López made for the Seville City Council after he attained his majority. He appears in an ornate context, seated on a throne, with a sword and many horns.
© Bank of Spain CollectionThere is also a portrait of Isabel II by Federico di Madrazzo in 1850, one of the best known of the popular queen, and more copies. It is combed with two bandos On her face, which never gathers in her, she wears a spectacular pear-shaped diamond and pearl diadem, from which a delicate lace veil is attached. The wide, generous neckline lets you see your shoulders and is adorned with a gorgeous pearl necklace; Silver lace on different bends.
Years later, Benito Soriano Murillo He portrayed the queen at the age of 30 where she is shown in full maturity. He wears a magnificent off-white dress, embroidered in gold, with castles and heraldic lions, crowns and sceptres that symbolize power.
© Bank of Spain CollectionThe brief reign of Amadeus of Savoy
Amadeus I of Savoy, ElectWas King of Spain between 1871 and 1873. The Bank of Spain commissioned his portrait from the painter Carlos Luis de Ribera for 20,000 reales de vellon. about it A gorgeous full-length portrait that radiates chivalry And the elegance of the young 26-year-old king, dressed in a splendid riding uniform. Despite his looks and his efforts to win the affections of his adopted people, Amadeus I was forced to abdicate two years after his accession to the throne.
© Bank of Spain Collection
© Bank of Spain CollectionAlfonso XII, proclaimed only 20 years old
Of Alfonso XII, the Bank of Spain has two portraits by José María Romero y López and Carlos Luis de Ribera y Five. They depict the youth and maturity of a king He was announced when he was only 20 years old And he drinks from the painting of Amadeo I. Alfonso XII married his cousin in 1878 María de las Mercedes de Orleans y Borbón, who died five months after the wedding. In his second marriage he married Maria Christina de Habsburgo-Lorraine.
© Bank of Spain CollectionAlfonso XIII, Child King
Alfonso XIII was depicted as a child with his mother, Maria Christina of Habsburg-Lorraine. His father, national conscience Alfonso. Mother and son painting by Manuel Us y Colas. It is a very accurate work of execution, including the fashion cues of the period where the Queen wore black, as an indication of the mourning that she was wearing and supporting the child at the time.
© Bank of Spain CollectionThe second portrait of Alfonso XIII dates from 1902 and is the work of José Villegas y Cordero when the king was 16 years old, when his mother’s guardianship ceased. The painter captured him in the white and gold coronation suit under the light blue mantle that distinguished him as Grand Master of the Order of Charles III.
© Bank of Spain CollectionBackground of Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofia, Kings Felipe and Letizia
Carmen Lafon painted Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofia as separate figures. One of Philip VI’s fathers is an oil painting influenced by Velazquez with a gray background and no decorative elements. The king dressed as a captain general and armed only with the Golden Fleece The artist painted Queen Sophia in a painting almost placed in profile of her husband. Among them, light is a hallmark, as are undone brushstrokes. Doña Sofia wears long robes and is seen sitting on a balcony with glass windows where she appears serene, unconcerned with the emphatic postures of past authority portraits.
