Historia del Arte

Esta nota realiza algunas consideraciones sobre el uso de un grabado de Guillaume Anabat para La venida del Espíritu Santo de Juan de Flandes; también de una miniatura de Sander Bening para la tabla del mismo tema en el Políptico de Isabel la Católica; además plantea cuestiones sobre la formación del pintor.

This paper brings to light the use of an engraving by Guillaume Anabat for The Descent of the Holy Spirit by Juan de Flandes in comparison with the use of a miniature by Sander Bening for a panel of the same subject in the Polyptych of Isabella I, which gives rise to some questions on the artist’s training.

Key words: Juan de Flandes; Pentecost; Sander Bening; Simon Bening; Guillaume Anabat.

Las jornadas del 15 y 16 de noviembre se celebrarán en modalidad presencial en el Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (c/ Montalbán, 12. Madrid). Las ponencias también se retransmitirán en directo a través de YouTube. La jornada del 17 de noviembre se celebrará en modalidad online a través de Zoom. Con posterioridad a la celebración del congreso, todas las intervenciones estarán disponibles en la web de la Asociación de Amigos del Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (www.amigosmnad.es) Coste de matrícula Matrícula gratuita. Condiciones de inscripción El plazo estará abierto hasta el 12 de noviembre. Dadas las circunstancias sanitarias, las plazas presenciales (15 y 16 de noviembre) serán muy limitadas y se concederán por estricto orden de llegada de las solicitudes. Una vez ocupadas, se facilitará a los demás inscritos los enlaces para seguir online las sesiones.

The end of entailed estates, or 'mayorazgos', in Spain brought about an unprecedented movement of art objects, although paradoxically the dispersal of art collections also gave rise to a renewed valuation of their restoration as a way to symbolize the restoration of the 'mayorazgo'. The legislation that ended the status of the 'mayorazgo' also gave rise to the proliferation of documentation on collections, often resulting in their reordering in a way that reflected the new paradigms of the institutionalization of the arts. This paper will shed light on the strategies adopted by the dukes of Alba at this complex crossroads, as they navigated the uncharted waters of managing an art collection during and immediately following its disentailment, balancing financial interests and cultural distinction in the transition from the Old to the New Regimes.

This paper presents a comparison of the exhibition of art in the Duke of Alba’s original Liria Palace in 1931, which was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War in 1936, with a later exhibition in the reconstructed Liria Palace in 1957. It examines what is known of the original Liria Palace’s exhibition of art, as well as the history of those spaces, and compare it with the reconstructed Liria Palace. It also reflects on the significance of the role the art collection played in the reconstruction process. The exhibition of the Alba collection in the reconstructed Liria Palace formed part of
the Duke’s strategies for perpetuating social distinction in the 20th century by preserving collective family memory, manifesting continuity, and imbuing the collection with unique meaning through the contextualization in this private setting.

Keywords: art collecting, museography, musealization, nobility, 19th century, 20th century, Spain, Alba, private collection, Prado Museum

María del Rosario Falcó y Osorio (1854-1904), Countess of Siruela and Duchess-consort of Alba, was a woman of boundless intellectual appetite and extraordinary sensitivity to the value of the documental and artistic collections of the House of Alba. In addition to researching and cataloguing the family’s archive and art collection, she also rearranged the display of paintings in several rooms of Liria Palace. These spaces, ostensibly celebrated family splendour, historic feats and artistic patronage, but discreetly represented a preoccupation with restoring dispersed patrimony. These rooms would be the foundation of the musealization of the collection, and the ideals that inspired them—restoration and family memory—would define collecting priorities for the next generation. Her son, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, the 17th duke of Alba (1878-1953), inherited her passion for both the archive and art collection as well as the sense of obligation to restore and preserve. He continued his mother’s cultural initiatives and expanded on the museographic narratives she had set in place. The influence of Rosario Falcó is fundamental to the history of the Alba collection—its dissemination, display, and its endurance into the 20th century.