He The Bank of Spain made public this Tuesday the large format images of King Felipe, Queen Letizia and the former governor of the institution, Pablo Hernández de Cos, taken by the American photographer Annie Leibovitz, for a total amount of 216,000 euros.
The photos of the kings were taken on February 7 in the Gasparini Room of the Royal Palace of Madrid and will be part of the gallery of effigies of the Bank of Spain, the corridor where the offices of the governor are located (since September José Luis Escriva ) , the vice governor (Soledad Núñez, who replaced Margarita Delgado in September) and other front-line positions within the financial regulator.
“This set is not exclusively made up of effigies of personalities involved in the management of the banking establishment (directors, governors or ministers of finance), but it also represents the different monarchs who reigned throughout the life of the institution. In this sense, it constitutes one of the best galleries that exist for studying the evolution of official portraiture in Spain, since the Age of Enlightenment,” underlines Yolanda Romero, curator of the Bank of Spain.
“Since the creation of the Bank of Spain, governors and heads of state have been immortalized by the best artists of each historical moment, with a few exceptions (like Manuel Azaña or Governor Luis Nicolau de Olwer) in repair which we will work on. in the immediate future,” Governor José Luis Escriva said Tuesday.
The last portraits will be presented in the exhibition “The Tyranny of Kronos”, which will be open to the public from November 27 to March 29, 2025. “The portrait of the outgoing governor is always made at the end of his mandate,” they say. explain from the Bank of Spain. Although, on this occasion, it is the first time that he has opted for photographs rather than oil paintings for his portraits. Normally the outgoing governor chooses the artist for his portrait and, this time, Hernández de Cos decided to join the commission for Felipe VI and Letizia.
The monarchs appear separately and each of the two images measures 223.52 x 170.18 centimeters. The king wears the full uniform of the captain general of the army and the golden fleece, while the queen wears a dress by Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Preparations for the presentation of this work lasted six months and its cost would amount to 137,000 euros for the two photos of the monarchs and 79,000 others for that of the former governor.
Leibovitz, 75, is one of the most sought-after photographers in the world. The artist worked for the American edition of the magazine “Rolling Stone”, as well as for “Vogue” and “Vanity Fair”, and also covered important war conflicts. Likewise, in 1980 he took the last photo of John Lennon alive during a famous session with Yoko Ono in which both appeared nude and in 2016 he depicted Queen Elizabeth II of England with several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In 2013 he received the Prince of Asturias Prize for Communication and Human Sciences. Four years earlier, she had been sued by an Italian photographer, who accused her of stealing her photos and demanded $300,000 from her. In 2010, the two men reached an agreement, the details of which were not disclosed.
Portraits, time and economy
“As in other iconographic portraits of the Bank, Leibovitz incorporates symbolic elements that anchor the image in the tradition of Spanish institutional portraiture,” explains the institution about the portrait of Hernández de Cos. In this case it is a large regulator clock by Maple & Co., a late 19th century piece that belongs to the collection of the Bank of Spain.
“This clock is not a fortuitous element: its presence evokes the importance of the regulation of time for the economy and also becomes an emblem of the governance of the institution, since it alludes to the role of its highest representative as the engine that sets in motion the mechanism of the institution. in motion,” continues Yolanda Romero.
“However, unlike the solemnity characteristic of historical effigies, Leibovitz opts for a more human approach, placing the governor in a relaxed pose, seated on the table, a gesture that breaks the rigidity typical of these images of power. The table, for its part, is a symbol traditionally present in the portraits of the directors of the Bank of Spain, an element that suggests justice, authority, but also a workplace. In this sense, Leibovitz’s photography is faithful to his style, which seeks, despite all the additions that can be pointed out, a portrait close to the viewer,” concludes Romero.
