1848 -1921 · Painting of Spanish history, realism and spectacle of memory

Documented crowds, sumptuous settings, sovereign melancholy and theatrical precision make Pradilla one of the last great European masters of history painting.

Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz was born in 1848 in Villanueva de Gállego, near Zaragoza. He started with the scenographer Mariano Pescador, studied at the Academy of San Luis then moved to Madrid, where he worked with the decorators Ferri and Busato while following the Academy of San Fernando. This theater training will remain decisive: Pradilla knows how to organize vast spaces, direct a crowd and make costume, architecture and light immediately eloquent. An avid copyist at the Prado Museum, he acquired a deep knowledge of Spanish painting. In 1874, he obtained a pension for Rome. In 1874, he obtained a pension for Rome. His Italian landscapes and scenes already revealed careful observation of the atmosphere. His consecration comes with Doña Juana la Loca, painted in 1877. The queen watches over the coffin of Philip the Beautiful in a cold landscape; the crowd, the fire, the sky and the immobility of the character transform a historical episode into a psychological drama. The international success of this painting led to the commission of The Surrender of Granada, completed in 1882 for the Spanish Senate. Pradilla masters both public ceremony and melancholy intimacy. He returns several times to the destiny of Joan of Castile, notably in The Queen Recluse in Tordesillas with her daughter Catalina. Alongside the great historical machines, he paints portraits, landscapes, mythologies and popular scenes. THE Galician washerwomen show a more direct relationship to work, water and light. Living for a long time in Rome, he briefly directed the Spanish Academy then returned to Madrid. Director of the Prado Museum from 1896 to 1898, he resigned after a difficult administrative period and retired to his studio. Died in 1921, Pradilla embodies the apogee and decline of a history painting soon to compete with new avant-gardes, but whose narrative mastery remains exceptional. Died in 1921, Pradilla embodies the apogee and decline of a history painting soon to compete with new avant-gardes, but whose narrative mastery remains exceptional. The selection "Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz" notably compares Queen Joan Recluse in Tordesillas and The Procession of the Baptism of Prince Juan. His reading favors color.

Pradilla transforms the archive into a living theater: costume, sky, architecture and crowd always lead towards the inner drama of the historical character.