I love paintings that show people hundreds of years ago existing in spots that still exist. This is one of those paintings:

(view the full sized image here)

I gave identifying info about this work to Perplexity with the instructions to research it and tell me all the interesting things it could about the work. Here’s what we got:

The Fountain on the Prado, Madrid

In the sun-dappled gardens of Madrid's Buen Retiro Park, a magnificent fountain stands as testament to both royal romance and artistic adventure. The year is 1841, and Queen Victoria has just commissioned "The Fountain on the Prado, Madrid" – not as a grand public display, but as an intimate Christmas gift for her beloved Prince Albert. This watercolor painting, delicately rendered by Scottish artist David Roberts, would soon find its home in the private chambers of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where the royal couple retreated from the formalities of court life.

A Scene of Tranquil Splendor

The painting captures a moment of serene beauty: three elegantly dressed figures gather near the ornate Fuente de la Alcachofa (Artichoke Fountain), their 19th-century attire suggesting afternoon leisure in one of Madrid's most fashionable promenades. The fountain itself – a baroque masterpiece crowned with an artichoke symbolizing fertility and abundance – sends gentle streams of water cascading from carved tritons and nereids. Behind them rises the neoclassical splendor of the Royal Observatory of Madrid, its columns and dome creating an atmospheric backdrop that speaks to the age of Enlightenment that shaped this corner of the Spanish capital.

The Great Spanish Adventure

But this painting tells a story that begins years before Victoria's romantic gesture. In August 1832, a determined David Roberts set sail from England on what would become one of the most significant artistic journeys of the 19th century. At 36, Roberts was already making his mark as a scene painter turned fine artist, but Spain would transform him from craftsman to celebrated orientalist painter.

Roberts arrived in Madrid on December 16th, 1832, in the midst of a cholera outbreak that would cut short his Spanish tour. For three pivotal weeks, he wandered the streets of the capital, his sketchbook capturing everything from grand architectural monuments to intimate street scenes. The very fountain depicted in his painting – designed by Ventura Rodríguez between 1776 and 1782 as part of King Carlos III's grand urban beautification project – stood then at the heart of the Paseo del Prado, Madrid's first tree-lined promenade.

From Sketch to Royal Treasure

What Roberts couldn't have known as he made his preliminary sketches was that these humble studies would one day grace the walls of a royal residence. The painting we know today was actually created years later, around 1837, when Roberts worked up his Spanish sketches into finished watercolors in his London studio. Using his characteristic technique of watercolor over pencil, Roberts employed the wet-on-dry method that gave his architectural subjects their remarkable clarity and atmospheric depth.

The choice of subject was no accident. The Fuente de la Alcachofa represented everything that fascinated British audiences about Spain – exotic enough to seem foreign, yet accessible enough to feel civilized. Roberts had learned from his theatrical background how to create compositions that told stories, and here he crafted a narrative of leisure and refinement set against Spain's most magnificent urban landscape.

A Queen's Christmas Gift

When Queen Victoria selected this particular painting as Prince Albert's Christmas present in 1841, she chose more than just a pretty Spanish scene. The work embodied the era's fascination with travel, the growing accessibility of foreign lands through steam travel, and the romantic notion that art could transport viewers to distant places. For Albert, who shared Victoria's passion for collecting and displaying art, the painting represented both aesthetic pleasure and the broader European cultural exchange that defined their reign.

The painting's journey to Osborne House was itself significant. The royal couple had purchased the estate in 1845 specifically as a private retreat where they could display their growing art collection away from the formalities of official residences. Roberts' Spanish scene joined works by contemporary artists who documented the couple's travels and interests, creating a personal gallery of their shared aesthetic vision.

The Artist Behind the Adventure

David Roberts' path to royal patronage began far from palace walls. Born in 1796 near Edinburgh, he started as a house painter's apprentice at age 10, working alongside future lifelong friend David Ramsay Hay. His early career painting theater scenery gave him skills in creating dramatic, atmospheric scenes that would later serve him well in capturing the grandeur of foreign landscapes.

By 1829, Roberts had transitioned to full-time fine art, and his 1832-33 Spanish and North African tour established him as one of Britain's premier travel artists. His technique combined precise architectural observation with romantic atmospheric effects, using watercolor's transparency to create luminous skies and subtle color gradations that oil paint couldn't match. The Spanish tour produced not only individual paintings like "The Fountain on the Prado" but also contributed to his 1837 publication "Picturesque Sketches in Spain," which brought Spanish architecture and culture to British drawing rooms.

Roberts' success with Spanish subjects eventually led to his even more famous Egyptian and Holy Land tours of 1838-1840, which established his reputation as one of the great orientalist painters of the Victorian era. But it was his Spanish adventure – and works like "The Fountain on the Prado, Madrid" – that first demonstrated his ability to transform travel sketches into compelling artistic narratives that captured both the factual details and the romantic spirit of foreign lands.

The painting remains in the Royal Collection today, a testament to both the enduring appeal of Roberts' artistic vision and the personal taste of a queen who understood that the best gifts tell stories – of adventure, beauty, and the power of art to preserve precious moments in time.

And that's it!

If you have any details you think Perplexity left out, reply to this email and I'll adjust my prompt to nudge it to include it next time.

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Thanks for reading!

-JP

Current prompt: I want you to create a newsletter post describing the fun and exciting stories around a painting. It should be a newsletter read for leisure and should be an enjoyable read (not just a list of facts) here's what you’re gonna do: Find the name of the following painting in its original language and any alternative names it goes by. Then Research the painting and give me blurb telling me all you can about the artist, the historical context/events it was created in, the style, the materials used, the composition and visual elements, the story/underlying message, what inspired the work/what it meant to the author, and whatever other info you find that helps give a complete understanding of the work. A description of what is depicted (mention subjects) should be the first thing, while the “biography” of the artist should be last. if the work has a lot of meaning behind it, then that is what the meat of the newsletter should be. Besides that you are free to present the information in a concise and captivating way, with the most interesting and novel stuff closest to the top. Order the presentation of information for which pieces have the most compelling and interesting story to tell. At least some of the description should be formatted like a story. [for example: a couple sits on a bench watching the sunset while a man next to them…]. ONLY include information that is for THIS SPECIFIC PAINTING. you will find info on paintings similar to this one but NOT this one. OMMIT INFO ABOUT SUCH PIECES. remember, the goal is to make the most compelling, intriguing, and fun to read newsletter as possible, so keep that above all else.