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About Anthony D'Arco

May 11, 2023

Exploring Spain’s Museo del Prado and El Greco Museum

Museo Nacional del Prado exterior
Museo Nacional del Prado exterior

The Museo del Prado, formerly the Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures, was opened to the public in November of 1819. The core of the original permanent collection was drawn from the various Royal Residences of Spain with particularly important works being acquired by Charles V in the 16th century and the subsequent Habsburg and Bourbon Monarchs.  Now housing more than 20,000 works (7,000 exhibited) and spanning 135,000 square meters, the Prado is renowned for its Spanish collection, including works by Goya, El Greco, Murillo, and Velasquez. Indeed, the museum houses the largest collection of Goya (130 paintings) and Velasquez (48) in the world.

Like most world-class museums, the size of the collection is so daunting that the typical visitor soon becomes glassy eyed from the sensory overload. Having been fortunate enough to visit most of the world’s great art museums, I have made it a practice to resist the temptation to “see it all” or only view the “most famous” works. In my latest visit to the Prado in November, with a nod to the Spanish masters and an historical focus on the evolution of sacred art (view our Sacred Art videos on this website), I focused on two significant works by Murillo and El Greco.

Recall that as a result of the Renaissance emphasis on humanism rather than spiritual enlightenment and the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, via the Council of Trent (1545-1562), mounted a campaign to renew religious art that was grounded in Catholic teachings and would be uplifting and compelling particularly to the common man.  With radically different styles, the works of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo from Seville and El Greco from Toledo were both successful in their emphasis on emotion and promulgation of the faith.

Bartolomé Estaban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, 1660-1665, Oil on canvas, Museo Del Prado
Bartolomé Estaban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, 1660-1665, Oil on canvas, Museo Del Prado

Murillo:  While Marianists cannot help but stand in raptured wonder at the foot of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables (above), many critics have dismissed his work as saccharine although masterful. Most viewers would assume that Murillo was simply another Catholic painter of the Counter-Reformation, depicting well-established religious tenets of the Church by creating a composition that references two dogmas, the Assumption, and the Immaculate Conception.

To the contrary, Murillo was championing a religious cause lead by Spain promoting the then controversial belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (that she was born without original sin). After much debate, it eventually became one of the distinctly Catholic beliefs two hundred years later when it was formally accepted and defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX in the 19th century.

While Murillo painted the subject many times, his most popular rendition was this one, shown here, and hung in the Hospital of the Venerable Priests in Seville until it was looted by the French during the Peninsular War and acquired by the Louvre in 1852. Eventually, the masterpiece was returned by the Vichy government in 1941 to Francisco Franco and installed in the Prado.

El Greco, <em>Trinidad</em> (The Holy Trinity), 1577-1579, Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid
El Greco, Trinidad (The Holy Trinity), 1577-1579, Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos): Heeding the call for emotion and spirituality over temporal tableaus that emphasized the virtuosity of the artist, El Greco’s mesmerizing canvases with his distinctive fusion of Byzantine traditions and Mannerism inspired Cubism, Surrealism, and Expressionism. In The Trinity (above), one of his most renowned works and the first religious painting by El Greco to enter the museum collection, El Greco expressively and dramatically depicts Jesus Christ ascending into heaven to God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The masterpiece, characterized by his unmistakable quintessential elongated figure painted with bold color and emotion was also his first commissioned work in Toledo (altarpiece for the Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo).

El Greco, Apostle series, Oil on canvas, before 1614, El Greco Museum, Toledo, Spain
El Greco, Apostle series, Oil on canvas, before 1614, El Greco Museum, Toledo, Spain

Prior to 1872, El Greco was known for his work as a portraitist. Indeed, if you visit the El Greco Museum in Toledo, you will have the unique opportunity of viewing a series of 13 portraits (1610-1614) by El Greco depicting Christ and his 12 apostles. And while in Toledo, don’t miss two of his other famous works in Iglesia de Santo Tomė (The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586) and Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo-the Toledo Cathedral (The Disrobing of Christ, 1577-1579).

Shannon Robinson is the curator and chairperson of the biennial exhibition Windows to the Divine and the annual Collectors for Connoisseurship Arts Weekends that have been hosted by our nonprofit in Denver, New York City, Paris, Atlanta, Savannah and The Hamptons.

More about Shannon…

Filed Under: Art & Travel

September 21, 2022

Hicks, Ron

Ron Hicks was born in 1965 in Ohio, and lives and paints in Denver, Colorado. He is best known for his figures and interiors and his work has been described as a blend of representational art and impressionism. Art critics have compared his painting to those by Rembrandt and Daumier. His greatest influences are Sargent, Degas and Velasquez. Ron uses a muted palette and rarely uses pure color. He particularly favors gray as it allows him to “capture atmosphere, mood, and layers of emotion.” His painterly style is immediately recognizable and a favorite of collectors around the country.

Ron graduated from the Colorado Institute of Art and studied at the Art Students League under Quang Ho before he began teaching. His works have been the subject of many publications, including Southwest Art (4 articles since 2000; Artist to Watch 1998), International Artist (Sept 2001, “7 Foundational Truths of Traditional Academic Painting” by C.W. Mundy), American Artist (December 2001, Feature Artist), Art & Antiques (May 2000, “Emerging Artist-Ron Hicks”), Denver Post (Oct 1998), Art Talk (February 2000; October 1998), and Westword (June 1994, “Seeing is Believing”).

Filed Under: About the Artist, Uncategorized

September 13, 2022

Cong, Lu

Over the past two decades, Lu Cong has made significant impact as an American portrait artist. Distinctive and mesmerizing, his portraits captured the viewer’s attention in ways as the most consummate artworks have.

Lu Cong was born in Shanghai in 1978. His family immigrated to the United States when he was 11 years old. His education included bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Art from the University of Iowa, master’s degree in Humanities from the University of Colorado, but the highest education that Lu Cong received was in his studio, there he delved deep into painting, drawing, mix media creation, writing and more, practices not only essential to his art, but necessary in becoming a more complete person.

Lu Cong is represented by Gallery Henoch in New York.

Filed Under: About the Artist

September 7, 2022

Ho, Quang

Quang Ho was born on April 30, 1963, in Hue, Vietnam. He Immigrated to the United States in 1975 and is now a U.S. Citizen. His artistic interest began at the early age of three and continued through grade school, high school, art school and led him to a very exciting and successful painting profession. In 1980, at the age of 16, Quang held his first one-man-show at Tomorrows Masters Gallery in Denver Colorado. In 1982, Quang’s mother was killed in a tragic auto accident, leaving him the responsibility of raising four younger brothers and a six-year-old sister. That same year, Quang attended the Colorado Institute of Art on a National Scholastics Art Awards Scholarship. At CIA Quang studied painting under Rene Bruhin, whom Quang credits with developing the foundation for his artistic understanding. Ho graduated from CIA in 1985 with Best Portfolio Award for the graduating class.

Ho started his career in the art world as a highly successful freelance illustrator from 1985-1990. Ho’s illustration works have been featured in the Illustrators Annual and exhibited at the Museum of American Illustrations, and the Communication Arts Illustrations Annual during those years.

His passion, however, was oil paintings and he found time to pursue those paintings alongside of the illustrations. Those works were noticed by Saks Gallery in Denver and Ho was invited to hold his first solo show. The exhibit was a sold-out success, and he went on to have many sell out shows the following years in Denver, Houston, San Francisco and London. Working mostly in oils and occasionally watercolor and pastels, Ho’s subject matter ranges from still-life, landscapes, interiors, and dancers, to figuratives. “Subject matter is not really important to me. I can find visual excitement all around me as well as on the canvas – from a knot on a tree, graceful limp of a flower wilting, to a juxtaposition of a few simple shapes and colors…inspirations are inexhaustible.”

Ho is much sought after to give lectures and workshops around the world. He has produced a number of teaching DVDs and is currently working on a book of his philosophy and work.

Education: Colorado Institute of Art; Rene Bruhin.

Teaching: Art Students League of Denver; numerous workshops in the US and Europe.

Awards and Honors: Master Signature grand prize award, Impressionist Painters of America, 2012; Main Speaker, Portrait Society of America, 2012; “30 Stars of 30 Years,” Southwest Art, 2001; Third Annual Realism Invitational, 2001; Best of Show, Colorado Governor’s Show, 2000; Artist Choice Award, Denver Rotary Club, Artists of America Show; Master Signature grand prize award, Oil Painters of America Show, Taos.

Publications: The Artist’s Bluebook by AskArt.com, 2001; Featured Artist, Southwest Art, 2001; Art of the West Guidebook of Western Artists, 2001; Art of the West, 2001; Southwest Art, 2000;

Selected Exhibitions: Great American Artists, Cincinnati, OH; Artists of America, Denver, CO; Colorado Governor’s Invitational, Denver, CO; Northwest Rendezvous of Art, Helena, MT; International Masters of Fine Art, Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art, San Antonio, TX; Jack Meir Gallery, Houston, TX; Saks Gallery, Denver, CO;

Representation: Gallery 1261; Claggett/Rey Gallery

Filed Under: About the Artist, Uncategorized

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