Page 196 - El arte del poder

fig. 50
Antonio de Pereda, The Relief of Genoa, 1634. Oil on canvas, 290 x 370 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. See cat. 50
Antonio de Pereda, Socorro a Génova del marqués de Santa Cruz, 1634. Óleo sobre lienzo,
290 x 370 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. Véase cat. 50
matchless repertory of armor of all kinds. Even so, careful control was kept of the collection, as evidenced by the contemporary documentation of the Royal Stables, to which it was accountable, and the inventories compiled of the holdings between 1594 and 1652. It is interesting to recall in this connection the instructions Philip IV gave to the armory to make its holdings available to both Rubens and Velázquez; our modern mentality is surprised by the fact that what had hitherto been such an emblematic collection should have been used so haphazardly. The dearth of documentation prevents us finding a satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon, though a few hypotheses can be entertained. Firstly, it is reasonable to think that appreciation for objects of this kind would have waned
sentido las instrucciones dadas a la armería por Felipe IV para que tanto Rubens como Velázquez pudieran disponer de sus fondos, por lo que con nuestra mentalidad actual llama la aten- ción que una colección hasta entonces tan emblemática fuera utilizada de manera aleatoria. Por falta de documentación no encontramos una respuesta satisfactoria a este fenómeno, pero sí podemos apuntar hipotéticamente algunas posibilidades. En primer lugar cabe pensar que en este momento el aprecio
the royal armory in spanish court portraits 195