By the 1900s, the cream of Spanish art was in Madrid, London or New York, while shifting tastes led contemporary critics to deride Murillo for being vacuous and overly sentimental.

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It is also worth noting that ARCOmadrid, Spain's flagship contemporary art fair, runs in Madrid from Wednesday through Sunday, with 202 galleries showing from 30 countries.

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The hypothesis came after extensive analysis of high resolution images published online last year by Factum Arte, a Madrid-based art restoration specialist who helped create a facsimile of King Tut's burial chamber in Luxor.

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His hard work landed Gupta an invitation in 1999 to Arco in Madrid, the sort of contemporary art fair that can make a gallery owner's reputation.

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Fernando Checa, a leading art historian and director of the Prado Museum in Madrid, recently published a study on Philip II as a Renaissance prince.

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