He The Bank of Spain made public this Tuesday the large-format images of King Felipe, Queen Letizia and the previous governor of the institution, Pablo Hernández de Cos, taken by the American photographer Annie Leibovitz, for 216,000 euros in total.
The snapshots 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 governor’s offices are located (since September José Luis Escrivá) , the deputy governor (Soledad Núñez, who replaced Margarita Delgado in September) and other front-line positions at 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 finance ministers), but it also represents the different monarchs who have reigned throughout the life of the institution. . In this sense, it constitutes one of the best galleries that exist to study the evolution of the official portrait in Spain, since the times of the Enlightenment,” highlights 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 some exceptions (such as Manuel Azaña or Governor Luis Nicolau de Olwer) in whose repair We are going to work in the immediate future,” said Governor José Luis Escrivá this Tuesday.
The latest portraits will be presented in the exhibition ‘The Tyranny of Cronos’, which will open to the public from November 27 to March 29, 2025. “The portrait of the outgoing governor is always done at the end of his term,” they explain from the Bank of Spain. Although, on this occasion, it is the first time that he opts for photographs instead of 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 grand uniform of the captain general of the Army and the golden fleece, while the queen wears a dress by the Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Preparations for the presentation of this work have taken six months and its cost would amount to 137,000 euros for the two snapshots of the monarchs and another 79,000 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 ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine, as well as for ‘Vogue’ and ‘Vanity Fair’, and has also covered important war conflicts. Likewise, in 1980 he took the last photograph of John Lennon alive in a famous session with Yoko Ono in which both appeared naked and in 2016 he portrayed Queen Elizabeth II of England with several of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In 2013 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities. Four years earlier she was sued by an Italian photographer, who accused her of stealing his photos and demanded $300,000. In 2010, both reached an agreement, the details of which were not disclosed.
Portraits, time and the economy
“As in other iconographic portraits of the Bank, Leibovitz incorporates symbolic elements that anchor the image in the tradition of Spanish institutional portraiture,” the institution explains about the portrait of Hernández de Cos. In this case, a tall case regulator clock by Maple & Co., a piece from the late 19th century that belongs to the collection of the Bank of Spain.
“This clock is not a casual element: its presence evokes the importance of time regulation for the economy and also becomes an emblem of the institution’s governance, since it alludes to the role of its highest representative as the engine that puts 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 down the rigidity typical of these images of power. The table, for its part, is a symbol traditionally present in the portraits of the leaders of the Bank of Spain, an element that suggests justice, authority, but also a place of work. In that sense, Leibovitz’s photography is faithful to his style, which seeks—despite all the additions that we can point out—a portrait that is close to the viewer,” Romero concludes.
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