Silent Music

Last year I had the opportunity of attending a conference that, within the program Enfoques organized by the Foundation of Friends of the Prado Museum, was given by Profesosor María Nagora. Entitled "Silent Music", the conference was about the similarities between the work of the painter known as El Greco and the Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria.

The class took place next the the work Adoration of the shepherds painted by El Greco around 1614, and its aim was to show the parallelism existing between this painting and the piece O magnum misterium by Tomás Luis de Victoria, in order to help us seeing the painting's "silent music".

El Greco. The Annuntiation (detail), 1597-1600. Museo del Prado

Is Art Worth a Life?

Is art worth a life? Is it worth risking your life to safe a work of art? This question, posed by Bernard Taper during an interview, appears constantly through out Robert M. Edsel’s book, The Monuments Men.

The Monuments Men relates the story of a group of art specialists –curators, architects, sculptors and professors- that, enlisted in the army, helped during the final years of the  Second World War to preserve the European cultural heritage and to recover the artworks requisitioned by the Nazis. In the last year they recovered around 5 million pieces.

While performing their duty, logically, the Monuments section had to face the question we are dealing with: is art worth a life? How far can you go to preserve art?

Some of the men who accompanied Da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine back to Cracovia in April 1946. College Park National Archive, MD.