Museo del Prado presents Bibliotheca Artis: Treasures from the Museo del Prado library, open through 30 January 2010.
The exhibition is made up of three sections. The first one, Bibliotheca Artis, shows the basic landmarks of the European artistic bibliography from the most important renaissance treaties (Alberti, Leonardo, Dürer) up to the fundamental works form the Spanish Golden Age (Pachecho, Carducho, García Hidalgo, Palomino). The second one, Bibliotheca Architecturae is devoted to architectural treaties conceived as a defined typology among art books and it comprises early editions of the Vitruvio up to great Italian and European renaissance treaties (Palladio, Serlio, Vignola, Delorme, Dieteterlin). Some books from public festivities will be included (royal admissions, canonizations…) conceived as an irreplaceable testimony of the disappeared ephemeral architectures. And finally, the section Bibliotheca Imaginis which focuses on the role that books play as a work tool and as a source of inspiration for artists. From the artists’ portrait repertoire to the drawing drafts, baroque emblem books or the albums with reproductions of works of art, the whole will show the importance of illustrations in books in the building of the visual European imaginary of the Modern Age.
The Museo del Prado Library
The Museo del Prado library, presently installed in the Casón del Buen Retiro, houses an important Old Books Holdings, notably increased the past years thanks to the acquisition of the José María Cervelló library and the Daza-Madrazo family library. The exhibition will show forty books and manuscripts dated between 1500 and 1750, as well as a group of eight paintings from the museum’s collection (Titian, El Greco, Velázquez, etc) which will reveal different connections between the bibliographical fund and the paintings collection.
Image: Museo del Prado, Exhibition Room.
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