The Prado Museum invites visitors to rediscover botanical species in its works

Madrid. The Prado Museum decided to immerse itself in its works to rediscover the numerous botanical species hidden in the canvases, for which it proposed a new itinerary in which up to 40 types of flowers, trees and plants that in turn have unique symbolism are located. Among the selected pieces are some of the great artists in the collection, such as Joachim Patinir, Fra Angelico, Tiziano, Diego Velázquez, Pedro Pablo Rubens and Francisco de Zurbarán.

The gardener and researcher Eduardo Barba Gómez is the author of this new museum proposal, which invites us to look at the collection from a new angle and also serves to recover the leading role that botanical species had in artistic works. The itinerary, titled A botanical walk through the Prado, covers in 26 works all that natural wealth that is on the canvases and sometimes goes unnoticed.

For example, they are present from the Mary Tudor from Antonio Moro and his apothecary rose in room 56 to room 10A with De Zurbarán and his Isabella of Portugala piece in which the marigold is the protagonist. Or Velázquez, who portrayed the garden of the Villa Medici in Rome and where the cypresses have special importance, until reaching the Still life with artichokes, flowers and glass containers the Juan van der Hamen.

This itinerary covers a wide range of time, from a classic Roman sculpture to a canvas from the early 18th century. Likewise, pay attention to all types of supports, such as marble, semi-precious stones or, of course, boards and canvases. In all of them there is accommodation for botanical representationpoints out the art gallery, which warns that thanks to these works of art there are evidence of the artists’ fascinating ability to observe the natural environment, who delicately portrayed the plants, as if they were another character.

Curator Barba Gómez explained that “in all cases, botany is an indispensable part of the story that the artist wants to tell: there are flowers that allude to the dynasty of the person portrayed, leaves that summarize a feeling, trees that convey to the scene qualities that are their own. Or what we can see from the dragon tree, whose origin is mainly limited to the island of Tenerife, within the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who is believed to have observed this plant in the prints of Martin Schongauer or in the incunabulum. Book of Chronicles de Michael Wolgemut”.

The chosen species could be present in the artist’s environment, even at the foot of his work studio. But other times, and as a result of expeditions to different places in the world, exotic plants that came from distant countries were incorporated and enriched the artistic flora, especially from the 16th century onwards.

Furthermore, it is highlighted that each era represents the plants differently, with more or less attention to detail and botanical fidelity. In the Romanesque, the extreme simplification of their anatomy gave plants a very peculiar beauty. In the Gothic, precision and the correct description of each plant and each flower were sought. It could be said that it is at this time that the botanical portrait acquires its own entity in works of art, which culminates in the Renaissance. In that period, and as a legacy from previous centuries, plants abound in the foreground of the works, with an outstanding naturalistic style.. And all this evolution can be seen clearly in the proposed itinerary.

This peculiar tour of the works of the Prado Museum can be seen from today until next March 30.