Museo Carmen Thyssen

Zurbarán. Saints

During the Baroque period in Spain the Catholic reaction to the Protestant Reformation gave rise to an art based on realistic and highly dramatic images whose purpose was to inspire devotion through highly emotionally charged depictions of saintliness. This context, in what was known as the Spani...

The illusion of the American Frontier

Over the course of the nineteenth century, the conquest of the Wild West became more than a historical event in the founding of the United States of America, developing into a universal myth in which legend progressively replaced history.

In the arts, fascination for those majestic unex...

Fiercely human. Portraits of Baroque Sanctity

Sanctity and its portrayal in art were two aspects that characterised Baroque culture in Spain. Following the Council of Trent (1545–63), the cult of saints as mediators and the definition of Catholicism as a decidedly visual religion were cornerstones of the Catholic reaction to the Protes...