GÉRARD SEGHERS AND THE MARQUIS OF LEGANÉS: NEW IDENTIFICATIONS

Jahel Sanzsalazar

The previously considered as Abraham Janssens' canvas with the Four Elements is here attributed to Gérard Seghers (Antwerp, 1591-1651). Beside the study of its iconography and sources of inspiration, this work is associated by documentary evidence to the one belonging in the 17th century to the Collection of Marquis de Leganés, considered till today as lost. An account of the paintings by the master inventoried in that prestigious Spanish collection is provided, together with some new proposals of identification. On the other hand, announcement is made of more than 20 new works by the master identified in different collections and museums, from which a deeper study is reserved for a forthcoming publication.

A FURTHER LOOK AT THE COLOSSUS ATTRIBUTED TO GOYA

Nigel Glendinning

A new article by Manuela Mena seeks to strengthen her arguments in support of the removal of The Colossus from the Goya canon. She considers the lack of references to the painting in nineteenth-century publications conclusive evidence against it, despite the fact that she accepts the authenticity of two religious paintings acquired by the Prado, without any reliable published references or provenance. Her interpretation of details in the painting and its title are questionable, and she ignores the fact that Goya broke the rules of perspective and drawing for expressive effect in numerous works, more particularly during the Peninsular War.

THE ISTRUZIONI AL PITTOR CRISTIANO WRITTEN BY LUIGI NAPOLEONE CITTADELLA:
THE EXAMPLE OF JUAN INTERIÁN ALAYA'S FORTUNE IN ITALY IN THE XIX CENTURY

Alessandra Mascia

In 1854, the erudite L. N. Cittadella published an Italian edition of the Pictor Christianus Eruditus, the famous iconographic essay written in 1730 by the Spanish friar Juan Interián de Ayala. Cittadella's adaptation shows remarkable influences, arising from some important themes of the XIX century italian cultural debate, such as the aesthetic dispute between the Classicists and the Romantics, and the discussions about the function of the modern religious painting and its educational role. It is not by chance that, the same year Cittadella republished Interián de Ayala's book, the painter Francesco Podesti attended the last important decorative intervention in Vatican, that is the decoration of the Sala dell'Immacolata, where pope Pius IX celebrated the just proclaimed Marian dogma.

FROM ACCLIMATIZATION GARDEN TO ORIENTALIST PLEASURE PARK: EL BOTÁNICO, THE ESTATE OF THE DUKES OF MONTPENSIER IN SANLÚCAR DE BARRAMEDA

Manuel Rodríguez Díaz

The Dukes of Montpensier settled in Seville in 1848. Since then, they began to exert in Andalusia great protection and power visible through an intense cultural patronage and the purchase of numerous agricultural and residential properties. Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz) was the town chosen to spend the summer season, and where the Dukes built a palace and bought a piece of the old Botanical Garden, an Enlightenment project driven by Manuel Godoy. In the estate "El Botánico", the Dukes of Montpensier built a series of architectural fads which went from the most eastern -neo-Arabic- up to the most picturesque, to form a recreational environment in order to enjoy nature and art at the same time.

SPANISH AND USA DIPLOMACY IN THE FIRST HALF OF 20TH CENTURY:
THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ANTIQUITIES TRADE

María José Martínez Ruiz

Since 1900 to 1931 exportation of art works from Spain to USA was amazing. Usually, this traffic was clandestine and it could not be unknown by Spanish embassy in Washington. Juan Riaño y Gayangos was the Spanish ambassador, and he knows very well antiquities trade and art collecting. At the same time, two of the main dealers of Spanish art, also scholars, Arthur Byne and his wife, Mildred Stapley, lived in a representative building in the centre of Madrid. At 1942, that building was acquired by USA embassy in Spain, when the couple died.

ROMA 1911: PRESENCE AND CRITICAL FORTUNE OF SPANISH ART

Ana Ara Fernández y Eugenia Querci

In 1911 Rome hosted a series of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Italian Unification, among which the Fine Arts International Exhibition organized in the area of Valle Giulia. This article analyzes the Spanish presence in that exhibition and the reviews from the Italian press, which focused on the most renowned Spanish participants: painters Ignacio Zuloaga, Hermenegildo Anglada-Camarasa and Joaquín Sorolla and sculptor Mariano Benlliure.

SPANISH SILVER SPICE RACKS IN THE INSTITUTO VALENCIA DE DON JUAN

Francisco Javier Montalvo Martín

The Spanish spice racks from the 16th, 17th and 18th century, which belong to the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan of Madrid, make up, because of its large number and variety, an outstanding collection. Among the about fifteen spice racks that have survived, six have the so-called "torrecilla" shape and three the "three niches" form, four are oval and one square and three are cubic with a half-spherical lid. Except for a Toledan one that belongs to the second quarter of the 17th century and that was made public en 2005, all this work has been unpublished until now. Some facts about some silversmiths are also new.