The Prado owes its existence to the collecting passions of the Spanish Kings and Queens; the Royal Collection is the backbone. and the Spanish collection is the spirit of the museum. It is this which accounts for the significant pres-ence of those artists who were connected, in one capacity or another, with the Spanish Court. There are Court paint-ers and official portraitists ranging from Sánchez Coello at the Court of Philip II, to Goya at the Court of Charles IV. Moreover, the Court acquired many works in accordance with the changes in fashion and taste, even if the artists worked far from Madrid. Queen Isabel de Farnesio, for example, sought out the work of Murillo in Seville in 1729. successfully obtaining four canvases. The work of the re-gional schools and almost all medieval painting, on the other hand, were not to the Court's liking, and so were either excluded from royal collections or, at best, only partially represented.