when the copy became as strong as the original

This is when copies are placed in the doorway for the visitor to request. El Prado has expanded and multiplied: it has become a domestic, democratic, portable and gift miniature. If they will produce positives in different standard formats, from now on large copies in small mail boxwhich are sold and distributed in Spain and abroad.

Thanks to esa red comercial, images of the emblematic squares quickly circulated throughout Europe. Visitors back then—infinitely fewer than today (3,513,402 visitors last year)—could get a portable museum, a legitimate duplicate, and a wallet to use as an ornament or as a love card holder.

These are the beginnings of what we call today merchandising institution of museums and which will lead us to this small but interesting exhibition that we can see in room 60 as part of the Open Almacén program. It’s the first time an art gallery has dedicated one monographic to the photo of its own background: an institutional gesture that elevates it to the same level as painting or sculpture and symbolically precedes the next 200th anniversary of its invention, which we will commemorate next year.

The exhibition displays another 44 examples 10,000 pieces with what is shown in the photo collection-one of the most overlooked- which intends to evaluate at a moment when the photograph has a huge importance from the point of view cultural diplomacy and in the way of highlighting and communicating the details of interests for the study of art history.

Dimmed lighting and strict conservation conditions call into question the naturalness—the technical reproducibility Benjamin theorized—that now appears in unique specimens that can be transported for several years. These graphic testimonials are also allowed by us play detective.

We can compare the rooms before and now; how museology was understood; How the cards are written, or a large set of walls, unlike the real one, in which the paintings need to “breathe” and take one of the others to appreciate them in detail. This is evidenced by the two images that introduce this text: two views of Queen Isabella’s room at the beginning and in reality.

El Prado commenzo, starting with the entences, do systematically photograph your works. The reason was practical: to disseminate, catalog and study our heritage. The result ended up being transferred to memory: a machine well oiled over time. This road was built by Commissioner Beatriz Sánchez Torija albums, gelatins, phototypes, cardboard and standard formats such as business cards and post office.

Interestingly, it is worth noting that at this point it was necessary to take the pictures outdoors in order to photograph them with natural light. Imagine Velázquez or Murillo “in the weather” with the risk of trying to attack them.

The exhibition begins with a reproduction a painting that does not belong in a museumup to the Kunsthistorisches Museum de Viena: Portrait of the infant Margaret of Austriade Velázquez. In 1899, on the occasion of the third centenary of the painter’s birth, we wanted to unite not only his Prada works, but also works belonging to other museums; This Braun, Clement & Cie., 1899 reproduction is preserved.

Way read the story of your experiences: with reproductions of works that do not belong to the collection, but form part of its story. Another example is the photograph of a fragment of the monuments of La rendición de Breda by Velázquez. The exhibit belonged to Hispanic artist Enriqueta Harris and was one of the pieces she based most of her investigations on and eventually donated to an art gallery.

Contemplating an image through its photograph can reveal hidden details, unexpected insights, questions useful to the human eye. The photographic image completes the story like two faces of the same story: a museographic and forensic document, the original and its echo, an unrepeatable piece and the emotional bond we create when we accompany each other through life