In the 14th century, Italian artists began to travel to Spain, taking their painterly innovations to the other side of the Mediterranean. The Florentine painter Gherardo Starnina, for example, travelled to Toledo and Valencia, where he painted panels and frescoes with an impressive command of spatial arrangement and three-dimensional figures. But even artists who never left Italy influenced altarpieces, gold-ground paintings and illuminated manuscripts throughout Spain. Barnaba da Modena never set foot in Spain but counted Juana Manuel, Queen of Castile, among his patrons. This exhibition at the Prado sheds new light on how Italian artists shaped gothic art in Spain, presenting works by the likes of Ambrogio Lorenzetti along with local artists (26 May–20 September). It also explores the importance of trade routes and the influence of the Islamic world on Spanish gothic art.
Find out more from the Prado’s website.
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