Full Name: Madrazo y Küntz, Pedro de
Gender: male
Date Born: 1816
Date Died: 1898
Place Born: Rome, Lazio, Italy
Place Died: Madrid, Spain
Home Country/ies: Spain
Subject Area(s): Modern (style or period) and Spanish (culture or style)
Overview
Author of the first Prado catalog and Director of the Museo de Arte Moderno, Madrid, 1885-1898. Madrazo was the son of the painter José de Madrazo y Agudo (1781-1859). He studied law in Spain before contemporary art in Paris. Madrazo published articles of art criticism in El artista in 1835 and 1836 before returning to Madrid in 1840, continuing to contribute to the journals El laberinto, El español and No me olvides. Madrazo was commissioned to write the first permanent holdings catalog for the Museo del Prado which was published in 1843. He contributed the sections on the Spanish and Italian schools in the 1872 Catalogo descriptivo e histórico del Museo del Prado. Madrazo wrote numerous articles to the multivolume Recuerdos y bellezas de España 1839-6, Monumentos arquitectónicos de España 1884-92 and España: Sus monumentos y su arte 1884-92. In the 1870s, he published archaeological studies on silverwork, tapestries and enamels. His article contributions were published in the journal La ilustración española y americana. His Viaje artístico de tres siglos por las colecciones de cuadros de los reyes de España appeared in 1884. The following year he was appointed Director of the new Museo de Arte Moderno in Madrid. He remained director until his death in 1898.
Selected Bibliography
[entries] Recuerdos y bellezas de España 12 vols. Barcelona: 1839-1865; Monumentos arquitectónicos de España 89 vols. Barcelona: 1884-1892; España: Sus monumentos y su arte 27 vols. Barcelona: 1884-1892. Catalogo de los cuadros del Real Museo de Pintura y Escultura de S.M. Madrid: 1843; Catalogo descriptivo e histórico del Museo del Prado: Escuelas italianas y española. Madrid: 1872; Viaje artístico de tres siglos por las colecciones de cuadros de los reyes de España. Barcelona: 1884;
Sources
Gaya Nuño, Juan Antonio. Historia de la crítica de arte en España. Madrid: Ibérico Europea de Ediciones, 1975