Francisco de Goya, The Infante Don Francisco de Paula Antonio, 1800, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid For centuries, Spain’s monarchs avidly collected art, spending a king’s ransom to decorate their palaces and chapels with family portraits and monumental religious and mythological canvases. Their royal collections launched the Prado Museum in 1819. In a holiday gift for art lovers, 100 favorites have traveled to Houston forPortrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado at the MFAH from December 16, 2012 to March 31, 2013. French writer Théophile Gautier described the Prado as "rather a museum of artists than a museum of art" and the Houston trove includes gems by giants Titian, Rubens, Velázquez, and Goya. “What surprised me most was that the Prado was willing to lend so many masterpieces to a single show,” says MFAH director Gary Tinterow. “Never before have so many works of first Read More