Masterworks

"The shields bear a Christian cross, but the shields are coffin lids. The soldiers behind them are skeletons. The entire painting represents a landscape of death. This is not a Last Judgement: there's no divine judge, no Heaven and no Hell. Just the inevitability of the triumph of death. No way out..."

''Philip IV collected works by Rubens throughout his life, and after the painter's death in 1640 the king bought several more from Ruben's estate in Antwerp - among them the painting known as 'The Garden Party' or more aptly 'The Garden of Love' ..."

This painting is extraordinary - both as a masterpiece and as a puzzle. Let's begin with the man who painted it - Diego Velázquez, for more than forty years court painter to King Philipp IV of Spain. The trick - to explain right away - is that he paints himself doing a portrait of the king and queen who are standing invisibly where we are, but reflected in the far mirror...

"Of all the paintings by Goya in the Prado, none makes a more powerful impact than this one, and none is more puzzling. What does it mean? What exactly is going on? In the year 1812 the artist made an inventory of the pictures in his possession, and called this one simply 'un Gigante'. Nothing more..."