3-097-625 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Henry III of Castile, 1848. Portrait of King Henry III of Castile (1379-1406), known as Henry the Suffering, or the Mourner, due to his ill health. Inspired by his intellectual curiosity and already firmly established as director of the Prado Museum, José de Madrazo embarked on one of the most ambitious artistic projects in the European museum landscape of his time. Madrazo envisioned creating, as a separate section within the Prado, a vast royal iconography that would span the entire history of the Spanish Monarchy. His proposal clearly demonstrated a desire to recover the nation's historical past, linked to the Crown's traditional aim of possessing iconic representations of the Monarchy's genealogical succession. Madrazo commissioned contemporary painters to execute the portraits. This one forms part of the Chronological Series of the Kings of Spain.