Science and Art History. Velázquez at the Prado

Gridley McKim-Smith, a professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and Richard Newman, of the Research Laboratory at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, collaborated closely, thanks to financial support from the Joint Spanish-American Committee, during one of the most active stages of the Prado Museum's technical research on Velázquez paintings. This book, which complements Carmen Garrido's work on the same subject, compiles the analyses conducted between 1983 and 1986 by these experts on 27 of the Prado's Velázquezes.

It examines the methods by which the painter achieved the sense of verism that has so impressed throughout the ages, the relationship with the painting styles of Rubens and Titian, and the impact of his travels to Italy on his technique. Richard Newman, in his text entitled "Observations on the Painting Materials of Velázquez," analyzes the supports, pigments, preparations, and binders used by the Sevillian painter.