The Cerralbo Museum () is an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain. It houses the art and historical object collections of Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, Marquis of Cerralbo, who died in 1922. It is one of the National Museums of Spain and it is attached to the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

History

Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, the Marquis of Cerralbo, opened the place as private gallery in 1893. After the Spanish State accepted to inherit the collection in 1924, the building opened to students and researchers. The Marquis' collection was split, with a part moved to the National Archaeological Museum and the rest remaining at the building, which was constituted as a proper museum in 1944. The building was built in the 19th century, according to Italian taste, and it was luxuriously decorated with baroque furniture, wall paintings and expensive chandeliers. It retains to a large extent its original aesthetics. The building was protected as '' historical-artistic monument'' in 1962.

Collection

With more than 24,900 pieces, the original collection featured a large

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

collection. The archaeology collection originally included the Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Egyptian pieces characteristic of 19th collectors, as well as items from the Iberian Peninsula (Neolithic, Iberian, Roman, Almohad) and two stone masks from Puerto Rico. The museum hosts a collection of

Oriental art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include East Asia, East, Southeast Asia, Southeast, South Asia, South, Central Asia, C ...

items, chiefly

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...

and

Japanese art Japanese art consists of a wide range of art styles and media that includes Jōmon pottery, ancient pottery, Japanese sculpture, sculpture, Ink wash painting, ink painting and Japanese calligraphy, calligraphy on silk and paper, Ukiyo-e, paint ...

. The exhibited objects consists of items from the personal collections of the Marquis of Cerralbo and the Marquise of Villa-Huerta.

Paintings

The Marquis showed a preference for Spanish and Italian works and religious and portrait paintings. Painting works include works by

Jacopo Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the ...

, Jacopo Palma the Younger,

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

Ludovico Carracci Ludovico (or Lodovico) Carracci ( , , ; 21 April 1555 – 13 November 1619) was an Italian early-Baroque painter, etcher, and printmaker from Bologna. His works are characterized by a strong mood invoked by broad gestures and flickering li ...

, Alonso Cano, Zurbarán and Luis Paret.

Gallery

Archaeology

The bulk of the archaeology section consists of the Marquis'

collection.

Decorative arts

The decorative arts section features

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

pieces,

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...

, carpets, furniture, lamps and jewellery.

Clocks

The museum also hosts a collection of 18th and 19th-century French and English

clocks A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, and the yea ...

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * *

External links

*
Cerralbo Museum
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

* {{Authority control Museums in Madrid Cerralbo Cerralbo Cerralbo Museums established in 1944 1944 establishments in Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Buildings and structures in Argüelles neighborhood, Madrid