Most internet connections I’ve had in Madrid have been very spotty. I’m not enough of an expert to know why, but it seems like their wifi technology is five years in the past. I have internet now for the moment at least.

Last weekend, I went to the Prado Museum and saw some nice paintings. The paintings are all old, all dark, and all either about death or Jesus Christ. Really so many paintings about death, death-beds, about-to-be-executed rebels, last wills, transporting-of-dead bodies, murder. Spanish artists really need to lighten up.

And big too! Some of these canvases were the largest I’d ever seen. They filled entire walls of enormous rooms. Ten-foot-tall individuals. A lot of times, the sheer size of some of the paintings left me more in awe than what they had put on the canvas.

Anyways, here are six paintings I liked and could find good copies on the internet.

Atalanta and Hippomenes — Guido Reni

The Dog — Francisco Goya

The Martyrdom of St. Philip — Jusepe de Ribera

Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples — Jacopo Tintoretto

Still Life With Flowers — Juan de Arellano

Naked Old Man in the Sun — Mariano Fortuny