Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Rembrandt

Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. Madrid is part of the historical landscape of Castile and is located in the middle of the Meseta, the plateau of Castile. The site has been occupied since prehistoric times. The first document about the existence of an established settlement in Madrid dates from the Muslim age. In the second half of the 9th century Umayyad Emir Muhammad I built a fortress here. In 1083, Madrid was conquered by the Kingdom of Castile. In 1309, under Fernando IV, the Assembly of Estates (Cortes) of the Kingdom of Castile was convened for the first time in Madrid. In 1561, Philip II moved the royal court from Valladolid to Madrid. It became the de facto capital of Spain, which it remains to this day. The War of the Spanish Succession ended in 1714 with the Bourbons taking over the Spanish throne. Today's royal palace was built under their rule. Particularly during the reign of Charles III the city's public infrastructure was modernized and numerous public buildings were built. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza The museum is named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. With over 1,600 paintings, it was once the second-largest private collection in the world. After Baron Thyssen, having unsuccessfully sought permission to enlarge his museum in Lugano, searched for a better-suited location elsewhere in Europe end of the 1980s. In 1985, the Baron had married Carmen "Tita" Cervera and introduced her to art collecting. Cervera's influence was decisive in persuading the Baron to relocate the core of his collection to Spain where the local government had a building available next to the Prado. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum officially opened in 1992, showing 715 works of art. A year later, the Spanish Government bought 775 works for $350 million.These pieces are now in the purpose-built museum in Madrid. After the museum opened, in 1999, Cervera loaned 429 works of her own art collection to the museum for 11 years. The loan was renewed annually for free from 2012. Rembrandt van Rijn / 1606 - 1669 / Self-Portrait wearing a Hat and two Chains / ca 1642 /

The baroque drawing was made in the sgraffito technique. The drawing depicts Hanken, a female elephant. The sgraffito was created in 1639, as then a circus came to Trzebiatów. Its main attraction was an elephant that could pick up money from the ground, shoot from a musket, march and fence with a rapier. One of the inhabitants of Trzebiatów had this event immortalized on the facade of his house. Later the work was covered by a layer of plaster. It was rediscovered in 1914 during the renovation of the house.The drwaing is about 3 metres high. Hansken, born in 1630 in Ceylon, was brought to Holland in 1637. Hansken toured fairs in the Netherlands and Germany and was a kind of showstar. Rembrandt saw her and made four sketches of her. In 1651, Hansken travelled from Switzerland to Rome. On the way back from Rome, the elephant died in Florence in 1655. The skeleton of Hansken is still preserved in Florence at Museo della Specola.