3-097-619 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Fruela I of Asturias, 1854. Imaginary portrait of King Fruela I of Asturias (c722-768), son of Alfonso I the Catholic - whom he succeeded on the throne - and Queen Ermesinda. Fruela, also referred to as Froila, and nicknamed "the Cruel," continued his father's war against the Moors. He was King of Asturias from 757 until his assassination. On the table is a map of Ovetum, the historical Latin name for Oviedo, capital city of Asturias. The Chronological Series of the Kings of Spain was a museum project planned in 1847 by José de Madrazo to adorn four of the new rooms at the Real Museo de Pinturas (Royal Museum of Paintings), then under his direction. At the height of the confrontation between the supporters of Isabella II and the Carlists, who denied the sovereign's right to occupy the throne because she was a woman, the queen assented to the creation and display of a portrait gallery that would represent all the preceding monarchs in chronological order. To fill the gaps of the medieval kings, of whom there were no images in the Royal Collections, portraits were commissioned from a number of young painters.