Jeremy Irons brings a keen eye and wonderful powers of communication to the documentary.
Camera IconJeremy Irons brings a keen eye and wonderful powers of communication to the documentary. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Tour The Prado Museum with Jeremy Irons

Martin TurnerEastern Reporter

ACTING royalty meets the artistic spoils of royalty in the latest grand outpouring of Art on Screen, The Prado Museum: A Collection of Wonders.

Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons brings his formidable performance skills to a tour of the renowned Spanish institution, celebrating its 200th birthday this year.

The Museo del Prado opened to the public on November 19, 1819 in Madrid as a Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture.

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It’s hard to escape the notion that great artistic endeavour so often goes hand in hand with royal patronage; the ability to acquire antiquities is tied to wealth and influence, with some insider knowledge and the spoils of high culture thrown in.

People from around the globe are drawn to stand at the feet of the masters, the likes of Goya, Titian, Raphael, Velazquez, El Greco and Rembrandt.

With eight thousand masterpieces to wade through, you could not have a better guide than Irons to bring the stories of the artistic genesis of some of these pieces off the canvas.

These are sumptuous, often heroic works, depicting great stories of history and religion in the stunning environs of the Prado, interspersed with the commentary of leading art historians.

The stunning interior of the Prado Museum.
Camera IconThe stunning interior of the Prado Museum. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

The Prado Museum: A Collection of Wonders

Narrated by: Jeremy Irons

Reviewed by: Martin Turner

In cinemas: July 13-19

Four stars

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