The former picture gallery of the Royal Palace of Madrid, which displayed the finest paintings of the Flemish School in the royal collection — originating from various royal palaces – is now exhibited in the Gallery of Royal Collections. Attention focuses particularly on works by the two great artists who served Isabella of Castile: Juan de Flandes (court painter from 1496 to 1504), with his glorious portrait of the queen and the famous Polyptych of Isabella the Catholic, comprising fifteen small panels depicting the life of Christ — true miniature jewels of the Ghent-Bruges school; and Michiel Sittow, with a magnificent Portrait of the Viscount de Lautrec. Other masterpieces include the major portrait of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, from the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, and an extraordinary tapestry cartoon by Michiel Coxcie, depicting the Entry into Noah’s Ark, which demonstrates his work as a tapestry cartoonist for the Royal Tapestry Manufactory in Brussels.  

Seventeenth-century works include pictorial chronicles of historical events, such as those by the royal archer Pablo van Meulen and by Denis van Alsloot, as well as the portraits of Philip IV and Isabel of Bourbon produced by the workshop of Rubens and the splendid Herodias and Salome with the Head of the Baptist by Gerard Seghers.  

Carmen García-Frías Checa, Curator of Old Painting-Patrimonio Nacional (December 2025)