Although her face went unnoticed in the rooms, her action has reverberated greatly in the Museo del Prado, daunting by his generosity and devotion to contemplation -not collecting- of art. Carmen Sánchez (1929-2016), teacher born in Madrid in a wealthy family and member of the Friends of the Prado Foundation since 2003, surprised to leave the bulk of her inheritance -more than 700,000 €- to the Museo del Prado, provided that they were used solely for the acquisition of works. So it was, and the institution today has fifteen more works that enrich the collections of different times.

According to its curator, Pedro Martínez, it was intended to integrate the recently purchased pieces into the “gaps” of the museum’s chronological line. Noteworthy for its great importance is Alonso Berruguete’s Allegory of Temperance, which is the first piece obtained from this important 16th-century author.

Another piece whose presence opens the entry of the author in the collection is San Francisco kneeling in meditation, by Mariana de la Cueva, which is an important document in relation to the pictorial activity of women in the seventeenth century. Other pieces include: Virgen del Carmen imposing the scapular on San Simón Stock, by Gabriel Antonio Corvoysier; Mujer en el baño, by Diana de Poitiers; La Boloñesa, by María Blanchard; Retrato de caballero, by Adrian Thomasz Key; Autoretrato, by Pedro de Campaña; The stigmatization of San Francisco, by José del Castillo; Giuseppe María Ferdinando Dal Pozzo, by José Aparicio; Sagrada Familia del roble, by Luis Esebi; and finally, Paisaje napolitano, by Mariano Fortuny.

The selfless gesture of the teacher makes clear her determination, autonomy and values, which as her nephew Alvar Haro reminds us, marked her vital attitude.

Art for the Hungry.

Text: Beatriz Igea Sanchez.

Photos: Museo del Prado.

HōRNō _ Online Art Gallery