Picasso war portrait at heart of Festival art highlight

　　WORK by artists including Picasso, El Greco, Goya, Velázquez and Zurbarán go on show tomorrow as the National Gallery of Scotland unveils "The Discovery of Spain", the highlight of its Festival programme for 2009.

　　The exhibition charts the era from 1800, when Spain was "discovered" by artists, to the devastation of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, with Picasso's Weeping Woman as its powerful finale. The Picasso painting, the centrepiece of the exhibition, depicts a woman holding her dead child and "weeping for Spain" during the war.

　　Until the 1800s Spain was regarded by many in Britain as a "dark" and inhospitable destination. But artists, both Spanish and British, were soon to create a sensation with works depicting the dynamism of the country.

　　Christopher Baker, the gallery's deputy director, said: "We chose Spain for the exhibition because it is a much loved part of Europe and we wanted to look at how the British love of Spain grew during this era. Visits to Spain such as those by Scottish artist Sir David Wilkie helped break down the old prejudices.

　　"Wilkie's The Defence of Saragossa showing a woman holding a taper to light a cannon during a siege by the French captured the public's imagination and was bought by George IV."

　　The exhibition of 130 works is housed in seven rooms, each depicting a different facet of the artists' relationship with Spain.

　　Mr Baker added that art from the 1930s, including Picasso's Weeping Woman, were those of the war artists of their day.
 

（来源：News.scotsman.com，点击参看译文）