PRIVATE COLLECTIONS OF ITALIAN ART IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SPAIN. (VOLUMES I-III)

The collecting of fine pictures in Golden Age Madrid has been little studied. Not only did the Spanish kings amass thousands of works of art, but their example was followed at almost every level of Spanish court society. This dissertation examines the phenomenon of collecting on the basis of contemporary records.;Chapters Three and Four investigate the collections of Lu(')is and Gaspar de Haro, the sixth and seventh Marqueses del Carpio. Don Lu(')is, who succeeded his uncle, Olivares, as favorite to Philip IV, emerges as an important collector. His use of the Spanish ambassador in England, Don Alonso de Cardenas, as an agent in the acquisition of pictures is documented in some detail. The enormous collection of Don Luis's son, Don Gaspar, is also described, along with Don Gaspar's activities as a patron in Madrid, Rome, and Naples.;Chapter Five discusses the role of "middle-class" collectors in seventeenth-century Spain. These heretofore little-noted patrons, such as the courtier Don Pedro de Arce, are shown to have been important sources of support for contemporary Spanish artists.;Volume Two of the dissertation is a listing and partial transcription of sources and documents, including inventories, contemporary citations, visitors accounts, and other evidence.;Chapter One is a survey of collecting in Spain from the Renaissance to the accession of Philip IV in 1620. Included are the collections of the Duque di Lerma (the favorite of King Philip III) and Lermas relatives, as well as the Osuna and Benavente collections. Chapter Two investigates the royal collection under Philip IV, as well as the great noble collections assembled in the first half of his reign. Included are the Alcala, Monterrey, and Leganes collections, the collection of the Almirante di Castilla, and the collecting activities of the Duqe de Pastrana during his embassy in Rome. The interdependence of king and nobles in matters of connoisseurship is analyzed.