Prado, Blas Del

Prado, Blas del a Spanish painter, was born at Toledo in 1544. He was a pupil of Francisco Comontes. Philip II sent him to Morocco, where he painted the emperor Maley-Abdallah, his favorites, his children, and principal officers. He returned to Spain a wealthy man. But, as he affected Oriental customs, and showed himself in public dressed in the Moorish attire, the Inquisition summoned him before her tribunal. He was discharged on condition of painting exclusively religious subjects. He died about 1605. Prado is distinguished by the purity of his design and the majesty of his compositions, which are simple, but carefully worked out in all their details. There are of his works at Madrid, in the royal palace, an Assumption; a Virgin with the Child; St. Anthony; St. Blasius; St. Maurice; a Descent from the Cross; St. Catharine. At Toledo, St. Blasius, bishop; St. Anthony; The Presentation; a Holy Family (in the monastery of Guadalupe), etc. Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, s.v. See Palomino, El Museo Pittorico (Cordova, 1713, 3 vols.); Quilliet, Dict. des Peintres Espagnols, s.v.; Mrs. Clement, Handbook of Sculptors, Painters, etc., s.v.