Chapter 10 – The Maja
“My first encounter with Spain’s most famous Maja was in the temple of Spanish art—the Prado. The moment I walked through its doors as a young and impressionable boy of eight, I knew that I had entered a shrine. The congregation stood reverently in front of their idols admiring them in silence. I followed their cue, and was struck by all the beauty, passion and color captured in such a confined space. In my youthful ignorance, I was not aware that the canvases hanging in front of me represented centuries of Spanish and European history, events, and personalities. I also did not recognize the names at the bottom of the paintings such as Velazquez, Zubaran, Ribera, Murillo, Botticelli, Raphael, Caravaggio, Bosch, Rubens, Van Dyke, and many more. I thought they were the shrine’s high priests. As it turns out, I was not far off. (…)”