Publisher's Synopsis
Philip IV and Diego Velazquez transformed the first half of the 17th century into the golden era of Spanish painting. The king was the greatest art collector of his time and had his palaces throughout Madrid lavishly decorated with paintings. Velazquez, the king's foremost painter, not only provided his own work to embellish the palaces, but was also involved in purchasing and arranging the paintings. Major pictures were commissioned, such as a cycle of 60 mythological history pictures by Peter Paul Rubens, paintings on the life of St John the Baptist by Massimo Stanzione and landscapes by Claude Lorrain, Poussin and Dughet. The volume, including masterpieces by more than 20 European artists, gives an insight into Philip IV's collection, which had an enormous influence on Spanish painters in the second half of the 17th century.
