The Spanish-born Jonathan Brown, a great expert on Velasquez affairs, dies at the age of 82 | civilization

American historian Jonathan Brown He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 82. The Prado Museum confirmed this on its Twitter account with a message expressing its regret “for the loss of this distinguished Spaniard and great expert on Velázquez” and noted “affectionately” the close relationship between Brown and Prado. Born in New York in 1939, he is a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, and has served as a consultant to several museums in his country. Brown was a specialist in Spanish painting and Latin American art in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as in collecting history, Prado notes on his website, where he was curator for several exhibitions, such as the one dedicated in 1999 to Velazquez, Rubens and Van DyckCelebrating the fourth centenary of the birth of the Spanish painter or with the title century auctionOrganized with John Elliott in 2002.

Brown published works essential to the understanding of Spanish Baroque painting, among which, Pictures and ideas in Spanish painting of the seventeenth century (1981), Velazquez, painter and orator (1986), Palace of the King: Buen Retiro and the Court of Felipe IV (1981, reissued 2003, in collaboration with John Elliott), The golden age of painting in Spain (1990) and Graphic victory. In court collection in the seventeenth century (1995).

The museum adds that in 1993, 1998 and 2002 Brown participated in the annual sessions of conferences organized by the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado and in the publications that resulted: Picture in the Prado Museum, masterpieces of Velazquez, the 4th centenary s Greek. masterpieces.

The Hispanic American was a member of the Royal San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, the American Academy of Arts, and the Academy of San Carlos in Valencia. He was also affiliated with the American Philosophical Society and the Duques de Soria Foundation. In his career he received awards such as the Gold Medal of Fine Arts in 1986; Grand Cross of Alfonso X El Sabio in 1996, and Elio Antonio Nebriga Prize from the University of Salamanca in 1997.