The Prado Museum has announced that 'El Cid', a spectacular oil on canvas by French artist Rosa Bonheur, which has been in storage at the museum for over 100 years, is now finally on show.
The painting was a gift to the Prado from Ernest Gambart in 1879, the same year the work was completed, but it has remained in storage ever since, except for a brief outing in 2017 as part of a temporary exhibition.
A Twitter campaign calling for the work to be put on show was launched by graphic designer Luis Pastor at the end of December 2017. Thousands of Twitter users joined his campaign using the hashtag '#UnaRosaParaElPrado' which reached its peak popularity last July.
In response, the museum promised to pass on the petition to its conservation department and gave its word that Rosa Bonheur's work would indeed be put on show.
The painting is a realist portrait of an Atlas lion, wih the eponymous mountains behind. The work’s title with its Spanish connection also evokes liberty, rebelliousness and courage; values that Bonheur expressed in her own life and through her depictions of animals, which became the principal subject of her work.
