Kids get royal treatment at museum
SEATTLE – King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain dropped in at the Seattle Art Museum on Monday to visit an exhibit of their national treasures, an experience they shared with a group of fifth-graders from a local school.
“It was pretty extraordinary to meet the king and queen of Spain,” said Marina Westendorf, 11, from Sanislo Elementary.
“Pretty cool,” agreed classmate Michael Autenrieth, 10.
Miguel E. Sanchez, 11, said he spoke Spanish with the monarchs and heard no difference between European Spanish and that spoken in the Americas. “It’s the same.”
One child asked the queen, originally from Greece, what the most important thing was that she had done for her country.
“Marry my husband,” the queen said with a smile, prompting laughter from the kids.
“Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492-1819” was put together by SAM’s Chiyo Ishikawa and Javier Morales Vallejo of the Patrimonio Nacional, Spain’s cultural agency. The exhibit – the Patrimonio’s third in the United States since 2001 – will go to the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Fla., after closing here Jan. 2. The first two were in Jackson, Miss., and Louisiana, to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase.
The goal is to bring the art of Spain to communities that would not otherwise have access to these masterpieces, and to underscore the historical ties between Spain and the United States.
In the Northwest, place names reflect 18th century Spanish exploration — the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Cape Alava, San Juan Islands, Padilla Bay and Rosario Strait, for instance.
In addition to centuries-old royal armor, a 15th century letter from Queen Isabel to Christopher Columbus, glorious paintings by El Greco, Goya, Velasquez, Titian and others, and a life-size Benini sculpture of Christ on the cross, the exhibit includes a woven whaler’s hat from Canada’s Nootka Sound, a carved helmet from Alaska’s Tlingit people and other art purchased by Spanish explorers more than 200 years ago.
Docent Lee Rolfe explained the exhibit to the children before the royal entourage joined them. The paintings, tapestries and beautifully engraved brass mariner tools are from an age with “no TV, no video, no Internet … no newspapers,” she said, explaining that the art helped communicate the importance of the royalty and the Roman Catholic Church.
She noted the impact that huge European ships and horses had when they arrived in the Americas, where she said native peoples would not have seen anything bigger than a jaguar.
And how big is that?
“About as big as a pit bull,” said young Sanchez.
The children told the couple they had been learning about Spain and its royal family.
“They know all about us,” said the queen.
“They were nice people,” declared 10-year-old Jurassic T. Anderson after the couple left the galleries for lunch with Gov. Gary Locke, Mayor Greg Nickels and other local dignitaries.