The collection of Spanish painting occupies two halls on the first floor in the New Hermitage: the Small Spanish Skylight Hall and the Spanish Cabinet (rooms 239-240).
The exhibition opens with the works of the masters representing the various 15th -century schools of art. The Spanish painting of the 16th century is illustrated by the canvases by Luis de Morales and Francisco Ribalta, as well as by the court portrait masters Alonso Sanchez Coello and Juan Pantoja de la Cruz. One of the gems of the Hermitage collection is “The Apostles Peter and Paul” by El Greco. The 17th-century Spanish art is associated with the names of such masters as Jusepe de Ribera, Francisco de Zurbaran and Diego Velazquez. A large number of paintings by Bartolome Esteban Murillo give a general picture of the famous Seville artist’s work. The “Portrait of the Actress Antonia Zarate“ by Francisco de Goya dated from the early 19th century ends the exhibition chronologically.
