(We suggest: The story of two friends decided to rescue ‘queer’ art)
The reasons for saving and valuing the copies were multiple. The kings ordered imitations of works that they gave away to leave a record and memory of them and also accepted copies with satisfaction when they could not possess the original. In the training in the academies, in addition, it was a method that was promoted as an essential part of student learning. Good teachers were valued in imitating the strokes of others; there were, then, famous copiers. The peak of this practice was experienced in the 19th century and one of the most imitated artists was El Greco.
One of the works on display is, precisely, The Adoration of the Shepherds, a false Greco painted by an anonymous artist between 1900 and 1930. It is an oil on canvas that concealed, as seen in an X-ray, a later figure than El Greco. Among the abundant copies of this imitator, there are several of very poor quality and exhibit some differences from the originals.
The copy of ‘Venus blindfolding Cupid’ (17th century) is one of the best copies made based on Titian.”
Also by Raphael was The Holy Family with Saint John, whose copy is estimated to have been painted between 1675 and 1680. The author was Luca Giordano, a renowned copyist in the artistic field for his talent for imitating the great masters of the past. In the lower right corner the initials ‘RSV’ appear, by Rafael Sanzio de Urbino, which leads some to think that he wanted to make believe that it was the original.
Pietro Facchetti copied Venus with the signs of Libra and Taurus, Saturn with the sign of Capricorn and The Constellations (1602), also starting from Raphael and Luigi de Pace.
It is a set of oil paintings based on the Seven Planets that De Pace painted in 1516 for the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, after creations by Raphael. A job in which, after all, six hands were involved. The original was commissioned by the Duke of Mantua to the Duke of Lerma and the person responsible for delivering them to Spain was Rubens, who left in writing that he had had to restore them because they suffered serious damage on the trip. Eight hands in all.
Cajés is also credited with the copy of Cupid (1604), a work that was added to the Amores de Júpiter cycle, by Correggio. He painted four canvases, to which Parmigiano later added that of a Cupid carving his bow. Felipe III gave them to Rodolfo II and, before delivering them, he had the originals copied.
The Prado Museum in Madrid is on the Unesco World Heritage list.
Juan Martínez del Mazo was characterized by his fidelity in the strokes that imitated the great masters and, in particular, Titian. He made reduced-size versions of Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto (1650) for monarchs and nobles, who used them to decorate their houses and to imitate the tastes of kings.
Also by Titian is Perseus and Andromeda (1560-1600), copied by an anonymous Flemish, in which Perseus frees Andromeda from a sea monster. It is a life-size duplicate, commissioned by Felipe II to replace the original that he gave to his secretary, Antonio Pérez.
The copy of Venus blindfolding Cupid (17th century) is also by an anonymous Flemish, one of the best copies made based on that painter. On a real and exact scale in his composition, the author, however, maintains his own style, with loose and confident brushstrokes.
Manuel Ramírez Ibáñez copied Titian’s Sacred Love and Profane Love (1881), and is an example of the practice that students developed as part of their training. In this case, the original was not in the best condition due to lack of restoration and the copy, with an amber color, reflects this.
The Prado Museum is one of the most important in the world.
The exhibition of these works from now on permanently in El Prado pays tribute to artists without whose work the legacy of many wonderful artists would have been blurred, whose pieces were unique in a time far from photocopies, scanners and even lithographs. They are true master copies of art.
Juanita Samper Ospina
TIME CORRESPONDENT
@SamperJuana
