Techo Del Palacio Real 

José Garnelo painted this oil on canvas study for a ceiling in the Royal Palace in Spain. It imagines figures in a celestial realm. The sketch deploys a visual vocabulary inherited from the Baroque era, a style that had been used in European royal courts since the 17th century to associate earthly power with divine authority. Consider the ascending figures and dynamic composition; these devices promote a vision of the monarchy as a divinely ordained institution. Garnelo trained at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, which shaped the development of Spanish art through the 19th and 20th centuries. Here, he reinterprets historical conventions for the modern era. To truly understand this sketch, we need to understand the history of the Spanish monarchy and the artistic institutions of the time. Art history enables us to explore the complex relationship between art, power, and society.