Page "Museo del Prado" Paragraph 42

After the Spanish School, the Flemish School is almost comparable to the Italian in terms of quality and quantity.

It comprises more than 1, 000 paintings and, again like the Spanish paintings, most have a provenance from the royal collection.

15th-and 16th-century painting is a particularly well-represented area within the Museum.

While the Low Countries formed part of the Spanish Crown from the 16th century, Philip's II's interest in earlier Flemish Primitive paintings meant that the monarch acquired various masterpieces by its most important artists, from Rogier van der Weyden to Bosch, as well as works by later artists such as Patinir.

In addition, mention should be made of Flemish and Netherlandish artists who worked for the king, such as the Netherlandish portrait painter Antonis Mor.

The Prado, however, lacks paintings by some of the important artists of the Flemish school, for example Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes