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Museo del Prado

— Spain's premier art museum: fine paintings in a fine setting.”

Outer doors of Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Prado is one of the world’s great art musea, with almost 8,000 paintings barely 10% of which are exhibited publicly within its impressive buildings.

Much of the collection originates from the Spanish royal family, whose acquisitions throughout the centuries reflect the formidable influence and particular tastes of the monarchs.

The presence of El Greco, Rubens, Velasquez and Goya dominates the halls here, with their large format works occupying considerable wall space.

The austere king Felipe II (1527-1598), who presided over the highpoint of Spanish empire, was a voracious collector of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and today the Prado has the largest Bosch collection in the world, including the painter’s best known work The Garden of Earthly Delights (1503-4).

Not being generally interested in 17th and 18th century art – a period of which the Prado collection has many works – I didn’t enjoy this visit quite so much as the Thyssen-Bornemisza. However, the highlights did Romanesque chapel frescoes, an impressive Flemish turnout and a room almost completely full of Bosch paintings.