13176 itinerario 13176 This itinerary overviews the changing tastes and aesthetics in art in Europe from the 15^th to the 18^th century, affording an excellent opportunity to touch on a plethora of different periods, styles and provenances through the surprising variety of the selected works.

Representing the 15^th century are several significant pieces of Flemish and Hispanic-Flemish art. Starting out with a scene showing us the types, the solemn tone and somewhat naive interpretation of space characteristic of painting from the Low Countries, we arrive at the expressive refinement of the board paintings from Catalonia and Aragon, where the wealth of gold and reliefs provides clear evidence of Flemish-influenced Gothic in Spain and hints at the incipient advancement of the Renaissance.

From the 16^th century, several Spanish and Flemish religious paintings on board are on display, paying testimony to the influence of the great masters from the Italian Renaissance and of more local compositional patterns, associated with the painterly treatment given to devotional images in the schools of Castile and Seville. Also on view are examples of French portraiture, continuing the legacy of Nordic miniatures, and of the beginnings of the Spanish court portraiture that would reach such great heights at a later stage.

From the 17^th century we have a broad-ranging representation across various schools and genres. Belonging to the Flemish school we have singled out allegories of Air and of Water, a scene of enormous documentary value reproducing a historical event that took place in 1651 in Brussels with delicately refined technique, and a superb version of Christ and the Adulteress by Anthony van Dyck.

From the Dutch school we have chosen a gallery of splendid bourgeois portraits, domestic scenes and still lifes, as well as an exceptional allegory of time represented in Mercury.

France and Italy are also represented with religious scenes—including a Holy Family by Valentin de Boulogne, probably the most noteworthy French Caravaggista—as well as portraits, and an excellent pair of still lifes reflecting a keen interest in the depiction of Eastern tapestries and goldsmithing.

It comes as no surprise that the Spanish School is the most abundant, with exceptional pieces by artists of the stature of, among others, Juan Carreño de Miranda, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Tomás Yepes and Juan de la Corte, addressing religious scenes, still lifes and portraits.

The itinerary concludes with a selection of 18^th century works, including some beautiful views of Venice by Jacopo Fabris, very fine English portraits and two superb paintings by Francisco de Goya.