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| Jusepe de Ribera Acrobats with rope ca. 1634-35 wash drawing Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
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| Diego Velázquez Portrait of Cardinal Borja ca. 1643-45 drawing Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
"In this same year Peter Paul Rubens (that monstrously talented, skilled, and fortunate man) came to Spain as the Ambassador Extraordinary of the King of England in order to arrange a peace with Spain. As Pacheco says, he had very little to do with the local painters, but he struck up a close friendship with Velázquez, with whom he had previously corresponded, and praised his works. Together they went to The Escorial to see the famous monastery of San Lorenzo. They took delight in admiring its points of interest and especially the paintings by Europe's great masters. These stimulated Velázquez's long-standing desire to go to Italy to see, contemplate and study those eminent paintings and statues that are the flaming torch of art and worthy to be imitated."
"To realize the great desire Velázquez had to see Italy and all of its artistic treasures, the King fulfilled an oft-repeated promise and gave Velázquez permission to make the trip as well as 400 silver ducats and two years' salary. The Count-Duke also gave him another 200 gold ducats, a medal with the King's portrait, and many letters of introduction. He left Madrid in the company of Alonso Spinola, Captain General of the Spanish Army in Flanders. They embarked from Barcelona in August on the day of St. Lawrence, 1629."
– from Antonio Palomino's Life of Velázquez (1724) translated by Jonathan Brown and published in Italian and Spanish Art 1600-1750: Sources and Documents (Northwestern University Press, 1992)
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| Pompeo Batoni Portrait of Manuel de Roda 1765 oil on canvas Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
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| Eugenio Cajés El Abrazo en la Puerta Dorada 1605 oil on canvas Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
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| Peter Paul Rubens St Augustine with Christ and the Virgin 1615 oil on canvas Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
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| Jacobo Confortini Lady seated at a table 1631 drawing Museo Cerralbo, Madrid |
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| Pietro da Cortona Saint led to Martyrdom 1634 drawing Museo Cerralbo, Madrid |
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| Juan Martín Cabezalero Communion of St Teresa ca. 1670 oil on canvas Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid |
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| Caravaggio St Catherine of Alexandria ca. 1598 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
"In our times, Michelangelo da Caravaggio arose in Rome with a new dish, prepared with such a rich, succulent sauce that it has made gluttons of some painters, who I fear will suffer apoplexy in the true doctrine. They don't even stop stuffing themselves long enough to see that the fire of his talent is so powerful . . . that they may not be able to digest the impetuous, unheard-of, and outrageous technique of painting without any preparation. Has anyone else managed to paint as successfully as this evil genius, who worked naturally, almost without precepts, without doctrine, without study, but only with the strength of his talent, with nothing but nature before him, which he simply copied in his amazing way? I heard a devoted follower of our profession say that the coming of this man to the world was an omen of the ruin and demise of painting, and compare it to how at the end of this world the Anti-Christ, with false miracles and strange deeds, will lead to perdition great numbers of people, who will be moved by seeing his works, apparently so admirable but actually deceiving, false, and transitory, to say that he is the true Christ. Thus this Anti-Michelangelo, with his showy and superficial imitation, his stunning manner, and liveliness, has been able to persuade such a great number and variety of people that his is good painting, and his method and doctrine the true ones, that they have turned their backs on the true way of achieving eternity, and of knowing the certainty and truth of this matter."
– Vincencio Carducho, from Diálogos de la pintura (1633), translated by Jonathan Brown in Italian and Spanish Art 1600-1750: Sources and Documents (Northwestern University Press, 1992)
Jonathan Brown suspects that Carducho's venom against Caravaggio (who had been dead for twenty years) was more immediately aimed at his fellow court-painter and rival in Madrid, Diego Velázquez.
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| Peter Paul Rubens after Titian Venus and Cupid ca. 1606-11 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Royal Beauvais Manufactory The Prince’s Journey 1700 tapestry woven of wool and silk Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid |
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| Juan de Arellano Still-life with Flowers ca. 1650-60 oil on canvas Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid |
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| Domenico Gargiulo Landing of Infanta Marìa at Naples 1649 oil on canvas Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid |
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| Jan Wildens Joseph sold by his Brothers before 1653 oil on canvas Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid |