THEMATIC TOURS

Life’s the selection of paintings on this tour highlights some of those great little moments in life captured in figures that feature in the Pleasures Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza’s collections. Many of these moments are linked to leisure pursuits or celebrations where diversions – either María Eugenia Alonso planned or spontaneous – are a welcome break from routine, and provide Mar Borobia enjoyment and happiness. Dolores Delgado Among these pleasures, music has a special place, featuring on the can- vases of artists like ’s Giuseppe Maria Crespi, where it reveals the refined tastes of the sitter, or of Johan Zoffany, where it livens up a family party. Music, poetry, courtship and theatre, all out of doors, are the choices of Jean-Antoine Watteau for his garden gathering. Play is another com- mon pastime shown, represented on this itinerary by the singular game of cards depicted by Lucas van Leyden. Taverns and tavern life was a subject that also appealed to artists; David Teniers II explores the pleas- ure of pipe-smoking and sharing the moment in company. The rigours of winter are no excuse for the characters in the painting by Jan Josephsz. van Goyen who make the frozen river an attractive spot for sledging and skating. Nor is the heat an impediment for the young people depicted by Jean-Honoré Fragonard as they turn a tree branch in dense woodland into the perfect opportunity to swing high up into the air during an excit- ing day in the country. Free time can also be devoted to cultural activities which stimulate the senses in works of art like Pieter Hendricksz. de Hooch’s oil painting. These leisure moments can also be used for matters of the heart, as shown by the François Clouet painting included here, or for a harmless prank to lighten up a dull afternoon, as presented in the oil painting by Pietro Longhi.

JOHAN ZOFFANY, Group Portrait with Sir Elijah and Lady Impey (detail) Life’s Pleasures THEMATIC TOURS 2

[ROOM 10] card games were probably invented which became a recurring theme in the in East Asia, arriving in Europe at the end work of major artists like Italian genius of the Middle Ages. There are many legends Caravaggio and France’s Georges de La LUCAS VAN LEYDEN as to the origin of these games, almost Tour. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, all of which are linked to recreation and it also features on the canvases of masters The Card Players, ca. 1520 magic. There is also dispute as to whether like Cézanne and Otto Dix. they originated in India, China or Egypt, In this work, Van Leyden presents us Oil on panel, 29.8 x 39.5 cm although it is widely held that they emerged with three people playing cards, using a museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid in 12th-century China. From that point on, deck on which, as was usual at the time, inv. 221 (1971.9) their usage spread all over Europe, which the figures represent heroic characters. led to the different deck formats found in The work has been interpreted in two different countries. Indeed, cards were so different ways. The first considers it an successful they were even banned during allegory of love in which the figure on the certain periods. However, it was not until left holding the king of spades will be the the 16th century that they were popularised winner; the second interpretation gives and became a regular subject in painting. the work a political slant and identifies Card games have played a significant role the same man as Emperor Charles V, the in the history of art ever since. The Dutch woman as his aunt, Margaret of Austria, artist Lucas van Leyden was one of the first regent of the Low Countries, and the third to depict them during the Renaissance as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, ambassador before they had become such a common of Henry VIII of England, all supposedly theme. The Baroque period was a high portrayed plotting against France and its point in the representation of card play monarch Francis I.

[ROOM 6] françois clouet was one of the letter on which we can read the words “A outstanding painters of the French Re- ma Dame Ma Dame Luc … A Paris”, written naissance. His works have a highly per- perhaps by the lover, a man dressed in FRANÇOIS CLOUET sonal style, influenced by Italian and keeping with prevailing 16th-century fash- Flemish painting, and more specifically ions, sporting an earring and careful- The Love Letter, ca. 1570 by the School of Fontainebleau. He was ly-trimmed beard, who gazes, enraptured, particularly highly regarded for his court at the young woman. The exchange of Oil on paper mounted on panel, 41.5 x 55 cm oil portraits and drawings. glances creates a sensual tension and turns museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid The three figures on this small panel us into voyeurs of the secret plot being inv. 92 (1958.9) appear to be taken from a scene of the played out before our eyes. famous Commedia dell’Arte, a form of The theme of love letters or billet doux popular theatre that began in in the —first depicted in French painting in 16th century and soon became hugely the 16th century, partly because of the successful in France. With simple plots, development of the postal service— it usually dealt with the amorous affairs gained popularity in 17th-century Neth- and misfortunes of couples in love. Here, erlands, with well-known examples like Clouet places the young woman and object Vermeer’s Love Letter (ca. 1669), held by of affections in the centre of his compo- the in Amsterdam, and sition, covered only by a transparent veil, later, in 18th-century France with paint- and looking outwards with an ambiguous, ings by François Boucher, Jean-Honoré congenial expression as if seeking the Fragonard and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon viewer’s complicity. Beside her is the pro- Chardin. Considered genre scenes, these curess, an old woman holding a folded paintings usually depict a female figure Life’s Pleasures THEMATIC TOURS 3

receiving or reading a love letter in a do- phere of mystery and sometimes revela- mestic interior. Thus, the letter becomes tion, when the painter leaves part of it a secret element between the figure hold- legible, inevitably leading us to try to piece ing it and the viewer, creating an atmos- together the story.

[ROOM 15] crespi was a prominent late baroque In this large-scale canvas, Crespi por- artist in Bologna who specialised in trays Count Fulvio Grati, who was a genre painting, to which he contributed member of Bologna’s nobility. Grati, who GIUSEPPE MARIA CRESPI fresh nuances such as a bolder palette, occupies the middle of the composition, possibly influenced by the works of Titian has his arm around a large Baroque lute, Portrait of Count Fulvio Grati, and Veronese whom he may have met on which the painter has depicted the ca. 1720–23 on his trip to . The patronage of neck, headstock, tailpiece and above all Ferdinando de’ Medici enabled him to the rosette, in intricate detail. His out- Oil on canvas, 228 x 153 cm study the family’s Dutch and Flemish stretched arm holds a mandolin which is museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid painting collection, which also had an resting on a table covered in a blue cloth. inv. 116 (1974.49) impact on his art. This instrument was very popular in This is not the only work where Crespi 17th-century Italy. Behind him in the paints a scene with instruments, so it is shadow is the bare outline of a harp. The thought that he may have had links with Count is accompanied by two assistants, Bologna’s musical circles and that he one of whom is drawing a heavy curtain, himself, like the sitter here, was a music giving the scene the appearance of a small lover. From the number of Baroque paint- theatre. In the foreground, an ornately- ings depicting small concerts and still dressed page is holding two music albums. lifes or interiors featuring musical instru- From the pentimenti (or traces of earlier ments, we can deduce that music had painting) visible to the naked eye, it would become a very widespread pastime in appear that the painter corrected this Italy. As of the late 17th century, Bologna page’s position. Rounding off this interi- was the nerve centre of chamber music, or scene is a dog looking at the viewer where a composition is interpreted by a and the detail of an exceptional still life small number of instruments and, as the featuring objects connected to music, such name suggests, is more intimate than the as a book and several scores in a lute case kind of music written for large concerts. lying on the floor.

[ROOM 18] pietro longhi, whom french historian contemporaries and, from their respec- André Chastel called “the Molière of paint- tive standpoints, drew a true picture of ing”, was a close observer of the society 18th-century Venetian life, featuring the PIETRO LONGHI of his day, whose customs he reflected in nobility, the poor, beggars and ordinary his oil paintings. The Venetian salons of people. The Tickle, ca. 1755 the upper classes were a recurring theme Longhi organises this work like the in his work, as we can see in this canvas scene from a play. A powerful light shines Oil on canvas, 61 x 48 cm where an insignificant anecdote becomes in on the four figures who are positioned museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid a subject worthy of painting. as if on a stage from which the girl puts inv. 224 (1971.4) The link between Pietro Longhi’s her finger on her lips asking for audience painting and the theatre, and in particu- complicity in not waking the young man lar with the work of famous playwright up. The harmless prank, closely observed Carlo Goldoni, is obvious. The artists were by two other female figures who are also Life’s Pleasures THEMATIC TOURS 4

in cahoots, is a fun way to pass the time vogue during Pietro Longhi’s day, and of day. Fast asleep, the young man having reflect the tastes and trends of its residents. his neck tickled with a feather is sprawled The tones are soft and subdued, the gold in a somewhat inelegant but credible pose trim subtle and the design marked by for this private moment of relaxation. an undulating movement, as seen in the The interior shows what might be a chair legs on the right or the detailed finish room in any Venetian palace, refurbished of the sofa further in the background. to suit the fashions of the day. The walls Venetian high society’s taste for interior are covered in a delicate green cloth design and decoration is apparent in reminiscent of the water in the canals and particulars like the figure in the gold frame with heavy matching curtains that shut in the virtual centre of the picture, out the light. The result is a pleasant and decorated with rockeries and coquilles, to intimate setting which beckons the young match the rest of the room’s furnishings man to repose. The furniture and objects and into which the characters depicted fit in the room follow the Rococo style in perfectly.

[ROOM 22] right. Also interesting is the man’s head looking down on the scene from a win- dow through which light enters from the DAVID TENIERS II outside. Tobacco came from America where it Smokers in an Interior, ca. 1637 was used for medicinal purposes, and representations are known of indigenous Oil on panel, 39.4 x 37.3 cm people smoking the leaves. However, it

museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid did not arrive in Europe, and more spe- inv. 387 (1970.35) cifically in Spain, until the 16th century, where it was introduced precisely by expeditionaries returning home. Some of in northern europe, works depicting the first processing facilities to be set up scenes from everyday life were very pop- in Spain were located in Seville. Europe- ular with a burgeoning and affluent ans turned the act of smoking into a social bourgeoisie. In these works, artists depict and leisure activity, and tobacco consump- people playing cards, taking part in tion was widespread on the old continent domestic chores or countryside festivities, in the 17th century. In this painting, the and drinking or smoking as is the case figures in the foreground are enjoying here. Teniers was one of the major figures the delights of pipe-smoking and free in 17th-century Flemish painting, and time in the tavern, while in the back- although here he borrowed his subject ground we see another group of men matter from Adriaen Brouwer, this is a drinking and playing cards. The artist fine example of the artist’s composition takes pleasure in showing how the figure and treatment of space. It is also out - in the pinkish jacket who is part of the standing for the colour of the characters’ main group, enjoys the puff he has just clothing and the representation of objects taken from his pipe, the smoke from which make up a still life in their own which fills the air. Life’s Pleasures THEMATIC TOURS 5

[ROOM 23] the amsterdam town hall depicted be seen milling on this historical site, in Pieter de Hooch’s painting, today having come to admire the decoration known as the Royal Palace, is located in and works of art hanging there, or simply PIETER HENDRICKSZ. DE HOOCH one of the liveliest squares of the Dutch to see the city’s place of government. The capital, Dam. The building, with its irreg- visitors include couples like the one on Interior of the Council Chamber ular shape, dominates the urban space the left, families like the one admiring of Amsterdam Town Hall, which it shares with Nieuwe Kerk and the ensemble around the fireplace, or ca. 1663–65 the Monument to the Liberation obelisk. individuals on their own like the boy The exterior of this public building removing his hat as a sign of respect or Oil on canvas, 112.5 x 99 cm and the vicinity was a regular subject in the woman looking through one of the museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid the paintings of 17th-century Dutch art- windows. One of the most striking focal inv. 196 (1960.3) ists, who used the square, the town hall points is the smartly-dressed gentleman and the surrounding buildings as models in the foreground with a sword, who is for their oil paintings. However, there leaning on a delicate stick and absorbed are fewer works depicting the building’s in contemplation of the large painting interior, hence the significance of this opposite. This is an oil painting by canvas which is a record of one of its Govert Flinck entitled Marcus Curius most iconic rooms and a symbol of the Dentatus Refusing the Gifts of the Samnite city’s power, as well as testimony to a Ambassadors. A companion to The Brav- day of cultural leisure in Amsterdam in ery of Consul Fabritius in the Camp of the first half of the 1660s. King Pyrrhus by Ferdinand Bol, which The room painted by Hooch was the is the painting we can see, both allude meeting place for the city’s burgomasters to the incorruptibility and heroism that and was open to visitors when meetings should be exercised by city officials in and sessions were not underway. Today, their duties, which inside the Town Hall the interior has changed little except for take on an obvious significance, sending the sequence of lower shutters that no a convincing message to those that abide longer exists and the wall hangings that within, reminding them of the moral are not there now either. Like the tourists virtues of uprightness that should char- of today, various groups of people can acterise their terms of office.

[ROOM 24] strip of land on which the artist locates the city. The city shown in this picture has been identified as Dordrecht and de- JAN JOSEPHSZ. VAN GOYEN picts houses, a church and a number of windmills typical of the Low Countries. Winter Landscape with Figures The church that looms up beside the river on the Ice, 1643 is the Grote Kerk, seen from its north side. It caught fire in 1457 and was rebuilt Oil on panel, 39.6 x 60.7 cm between 1460 and 1502. The artist em- museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid inv. 167 (1957.7) phasises its basilical ground-plan and tower, which lacks the typical spire that would usually round it off. The large fro- jan josephsz. van goyen was a promi- zen river is the Oude Maas, which domi- nent Dutch landscape artist. This panel, nates the painting, along with numerous which belongs to his mature work, is de- figures and boats comprising the various fined by its broad horizons, based on scenes that make up the work. The paint- horizontal lines, and by its inclusion of a ing is set in winter when the river has Life’s Pleasures THEMATIC TOURS 6

frozen over and the people are caught on and paintings like this show that a similar canvas engaged in different activities at kind of game was played on frozen ground a moment of fun and leisure: some are in both the Low Countries and in Britain. fishing in the frozen river, others are sledg- Skating was also common in 17th-century ing in groups or skating, and both younger Netherlands, both out of necessity and for and older people are playing with sticks fun. Also interesting is the simplicity of reminiscent of present-day hockey. Al- the skates worn by the protagonists, which though this sport as we now know it only are simply sharpened bones tied to the dates back to the 19th century, drawings feet with leather strips.

[ROOM 28] johan zoffany was an english artist her right hand in a characteristic Indian who specialised in what were called dance move. On the right, the artist has “conversation pieces”, which gained wide- painted a group of six musicians in exot- JOHAN ZOFFANY spread recognition in his day. He was ic turbans and light-coloured garments, then commissioned by the British Queen each with a different instrument: the Group Portrait with Sir Elijah to paint Tribuna of the Uffizi in Florence. one on the left is playing a mouth harp, and Lady Impey, ca. 1783–84 Unfortunately, when he returned from which was popular both in India and Italy, tastes in art had changed and his Europe; beside him is a musician with Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 122 cm compositions no longer found an appre- a ta¯npa¯ra¯, a string instrument similar to museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid ciative audience. This led him to set out a lute with a long neck and hemispher- inv. 445 (1986.11) for India in search of new clients. There ical soundboard used to accompany song; he found a large number of high-ranking the smiling musician beside him is beat- officials and members of the British ing a tabla¯ , a double-headed membrane colonial elite who still enjoyed his char- instrument and the most popular in acteristic work. On this canvas, the artist India, made from a pair of drums and portrays Sir Elijah and Lady Impey cel- supported by a terracotta-coloured cloth ebrating a little party with three of their tied around his hips; next is a violinist seven children. The family is having fun who appears alongside another musician listening to music and watching the chil- playing a little tambourine known in dren dance. We can see a girl dancing India as a ka¯njira; and finally, a musician in Indian dress, probably their daughter holding a triangle. Behind them is a child Marian, while Sir Elijah claps along in of unknown identity holding ka¯ rtals, of encouragement. The little girl is raising which Spanish castanets are a variation.

[ROOM 28, IN ROOM 47 in the clearing of a lush garden paintings and a series of drawings. Here UNTIL 15TH APRIL, 2018] illuminated by a point of light filtering Pierrot has been adapted to French tastes, through the undergrowth, Pierrot sits at losing his original roguishness and de- the centre of the composition looking out picted as a moon-loving dreamer with a JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU towards the viewer. The figure of Pierrot certain sadness about him. The work’s comes from Italian Commedia dell’Arte, title may refer to the lyrics of a popular Pierrot Content, ca. 1712 and it was Watteau’s training in Paris song “How happy Pierrot would be if he with Claude Gillot that brought him into only had art to please you”. Oil on canvas, 35 x 31 cm contact with the theatre and, more spe- Pierrot is flanked by two female figures museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid cifically, with the Italian performers then elegantly dressed in the Rococo style that inv. 432 (1977.75) fashionable in the city. This was a recur- had emerged in Versailles and Paris. De- ring theme in Watteau’s oeuvre, both fined by a taste for bright colour, profuse Life’s Pleasures THEMATIC TOURS 7

and exuberant silk, satin and velvet fab- is livening up the evening with guitar rics, garments were adorned with frills music. This instrument, typical of the 17th and bows and accompanied by highly and 18th centuries, was very popular in elaborate hairstyles. Ladies moved their Spain, but appears to have been introduced fans, which were trimmed with mother- into France by Italian fair performers. of-pearl and lace, according to a secret Watteau was the quintessential master code of gestures. One of the young women of French Rococo and this early oil paint- looks spellbound at Mezzetin, who is ing belongs to a group of works known sitting at the other end, and holds her as fêtes galantes, a term coined by the closed fan resting under her chin as if to Académie precisely to designate this art- say: “Do you love me?”. Mezzetin, however, ist’s canvases which narrate scenes where fails to return her gaze and is instead several characters enjoy music, poetry absorbed by the other female figure who and courtship, usually in outdoor scenes.

[ROOM 28] tune with the Rococo tastes that perme- ated palaces, manor houses and the dec- orative arts of the day. JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD This early work, where Fragonard al- ready shows an interest in two of his The See-Saw, ca. 1750–52 favourite themes, namely love and nature, depicts people at play. As if in an allegory Oil on canvas, 120 x 94.5 cm of passion, the young woman is enjoying

museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid being right up high in the air where she inv. 148 (1956.13) has been propelled by the young man who is applying weight to the other end with boucher, chardin and watteau, of the see-saw with the assistance of two Fragonard is one of the most outstanding children who could be compared to little French painters of the 18th century and cupids watching over the love between a major exponent of fête galante, a term the young couple. The scene takes place that refers to a type of work characterised in a leafy garden where lush nature is by bright colour and lively subject matter. complemented by a still life in the fore- The period was marked by a preference ground depicting exquisite fruit. for genre scenes in interiors or merry- The artist plays masterfully with the making in gardens and woodland, where light and with bold colours to construct richly-dressed characters at leisure enjoy the figures. The handling of the pleats and music, strolling, poetry and flirting. In reflections that emanate from the diaph- keeping with the hedonism of this kind anous fabrics add lightness and movement of painting, it is common to find series to the figure of the young woman who representing different seasons, with diver- appears to be hanging in the air. sions associated with the manifestations The canvas forms the pair to a painting of nature at each given moment. Religious in the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio themes or history paintings are relegated called Blind Man’s Buff and can today be to a more secondary level. This kind of considered the clearest precedent for Frag- work in small formats was commissioned onard’s famous work The Swing, now in by the nobility and aristocracy and is in the Wallace Collection in . 8 MUSEUM PLAN

SECOND FLOOR 1 Early Italian Painting 2 Gothic Painting 3 Early Netherlandish Painting 4 The Quattrocento (Italian art) 5 The Portrait (Early Renaissance) 6 The Villahermosa Gallery 7 Italian Painting (16th century) 8 9 German Painting (16th century) 10 Netherlandish Painting (16th century) 11 Titian, Tintoretto, Bassano, El Greco 12 Caravaggio and the Early Baroque 13 14 15 Italian, French and Spanish Painting (17th century) 16 17 18 Italian Painting (18th century) 19 Flemish Painting (17th century) 20 Dutch Painting (Italianate movements) 21 Dutch Painting (17th century: portraits) A Italian Painting (17th century) B Flemish and Dutch Painting (17th century) C Views and Landscapes Gallery D 18 th-century Painting E-F 19 th-century American Painting FIRST FLOOR G Naturalism and the Rural World H Early Impressionism

22 23 24 25 26 Dutch Painting (17th century: scenes of daily life, interiors and landscapes) 27 Still Lifes (17th century) 28 From the Rococo to Neoclassicism (18th-century painting) 29 30 American Painting (19th century) 31 European Painting (19th century, from Romanticism to Realism) 32 Impressionist Painting 33 Post-impressionist Painting 34 Fauve Painting 35 36 37 Expressionist Painting (20th century) 38 Expressionist Painting (the Blue Rider group) 39 Expressionist Painting 40 Expressionist Painting (New Objectivity) J American Impressionism K Late Impressionism L Gauguin and Post-impressionism (1) M Post-impressionism (2) GROUND FLOOR N German Expressionism O Fauvism information P Cubism and Orphism ticket desk cloakroom 41 42 43 44 The Experimental Avant-gardes gift shop-bookshop 45 The Synthesis of the Modern (Europe) wheelchair lift to 46 The Synthesis of the Modern (USA) basement level 47 48 Late Surrealism. The Figurative Tradition and Pop Art cafeteria-restaurant

ENTRANCE

Some works may not be displayed in their normal location if they are on loan, being restored or in a temporary exhibition