 |
| Claude Lorrain Departure of the Herd 1636-37 Prado |
 |
| Claude Lorrain Ford of a River 1636 Prado |
Here are a few more of the fifty landscape paintings we read about yesterday. They were commissioned en bloc in Italy by agents of the King of Spain for the "Landscape Gallery" in the new-built Buen Retiro palace outside Madrid. An expatriate community existed in mid-17th century Rome – French, Dutch and Flemish painters with established reputations as landscape specialists. Today's Prado preserves approximately half the original collection of these Roman landscapes – "one of the most spectacular and beautiful decorative ensembles of the seventeenth century."
 |
| Jacques d'Arthois Landscape 1630s Prado |
 |
| Jacques d'Arthois Landscape with Riverbank 1630s Prado |
 |
| Jacques d'Arthois Landscape with Fête Champêtre 1630s Prado |
 |
| Jan Both Landscape with Fisherfolk c. 1639-41 Prado |
 |
| Jan Both Landscape with Mountain Pass 1639-41 Prado |
 |
| Jan Both Landscape with Trail from a Landing Place 1639-41 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with Hermit Preaching 1639-41 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with Fisherfolk 1639-41 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with Cabin & Vegetables 1634-39 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with Travelers & Shepherd 1635-36 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with Travelers & Boy 1639-41 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with St. Francis in Meditation 1634-39 Prado |
 |
| Herman van Swanevelt Landscape with St. Rosalia de Palermo 1634-39 Prado |
Pictures were hung densely in Baroque interiors, with neighboring pictures commonly pressing close against each other on all four sides. In winter they were taken down and replaced by tapestries. More fragile than paintings, these tapestries have seldom survived, yet in their day they carried more prestige and were more expensive than even the best-regarded paintings.