Fernando Checa, a leading art historian and director of the Prado Museum in Madrid, recently published a study on Philip II as a Renaissance prince.

ECONOMIST: Spanish empire: Good King Philip? | The

Curators at the Prado museum in Madrid claim the painting of St John the Baptist, found in a Spanish church, was painted by the Italian master.

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Back in his London studio, he persuaded a friend to place a blindfold over his eyes, escort him by taxi to Heathrow, catch a flight to Madrid, lead him into the Prado museum, and position him in directly in front of Velazquez's Las Meninas.

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