iGalería de las Colecciones RealesPalacio
Fernando Brambila, Painter of the Royal Sites
This exhibition has ended.
Ninety-five oil paintings of Spain's Royal Sites commissioned by Ferdinand VII, by topographical landscape painter Fernando Brambila (1763–1834).
Museum websiteMore in Madrid
Aranjuez for its lush vegetation, La Granja for its fountains, El Escorial for the quality of its stone: that is how a contemporary summed up what made each royal residence worth painting, and Brambila painted all three.
Ferdinand VII commissioned 95 oil paintings of the Royal Sites from him, made between 1821 and 1833. This show, on Floor -3 in the temporary exhibition hall, brings together about thirty works from that project, plus drawings from the Malaspina expedition and engravings of Zaragoza's ruins after the Napoleonic siege. Curator Isabel María Rodríguez Marco points to the "precision, elegance and extraordinary attention to detail". Brambila fixed the official image of Aranjuez and La Granja, so this is the 1820s version of the photo you post from a Cercanías day trip.
It closes on Monday 12 October, a holiday with hours of 10:00 to 19:00. Entry is €14 with the Gallery or €8 for the exhibition alone.
Editor's pick
Ninety-five oil views of Spain's Royal Sites, Ferdinand VII's palaces and gardens, painted to his commission by the topographical painter Fernando Brambila. Two of those sites, Aranjuez and El Escorial, are a Cercanías ride from Madrid.
Look for
The Boca de Asno view
A landscape of the Boca de Asno in Valsaín, part of the San Ildefonso paintings of 1821 to 1822.
The La Granja fountains
Several canvases of the palace gardens' fountains, the feature this royal site was known for.
Aranjuez gardens
Royal gardens thick with vegetation, with visitors strolling through them.
La Isabela
A view of the Real Sitio de La Isabela in Guadalajara, a royal site that no longer exists.
The Zaragoza ruins engravings
Prints of the city's ruins after the Napoleonic siege.
Good for
- Going Solo
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
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Image credits
7
- Galería de las Colecciones RealesJavier Pérez Montes (Nerve net), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Works in Passing: Cerralbo and the Women Who Protected Cultural HeritageCourtesy of Museo Cerralbo
- Los Moreno, Art PhotographersCourtesy of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Madrid in the Golden Age: Crucible of Destinies and Landing of GeniusesCourtesy of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Museo CerralboZarateman, CC0
- Espacio Fundación TelefónicaLev (Flickr: _lev_), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San FernandoStanislav Kozlovskiy (Ctac), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0