Museo de la Trinidad

About

The Museo de la Trinidad, or Museo Nacional de la Trinidad, was a Spanish national museum of painting and sculpture in Madrid from 1837 to 1872. Its collection was removed and merged with the Museo del Prado in 1872. It was called the 'Museum of the Holy Trinity' after the name of its location (a convent no longer extant).

It was created as a result of the confiscation of church property in Spain called the Mendizábal confiscations. Though it was first opened to the public on July 24, 1838 to celebrate Queen regent Maria Christina's name-day, it was soon closed and reopened on May 2, 1842 by the twelve-year-old Queen Isabella II of Spain who had an inventory drawn up in 1854 and expanded the collection with acquisitions and contemporary works from her National Exhibitions of Fine Arts that she began in 1856, making it the first national Spanish public art museum with state-owned works. Due to lack of exhibition space in the cramped former convent, most of the items were not on display, and few efforts were made to document the provenance of the various pieces, leading to retroactive provenance work that continues to this day.

In 1862, the art critic and historian Gregorio Cruzada...