‘The pictures, they look at you.’ A stroll with novelist John Banville through Spain's Prado Museum

MADRID -- It’s nan eyes peering from nan canvases that get him, their regard piercing nan bound betwixt creation and life.

That’s why acclaimed Irish novelist John Banville prefers to sojourn Spain’s Prado Museum during its opening hours — moreover though he's been invited to browse anytime arsenic portion of a month-long literate fellowship.

Still, he doesn't want to beryllium unsocial pinch nan multitude of watchers hanging from nan walls of nan labyrinthine galleries.

“I don’t for illustration coming present aft hours, it’s excessively eerie. The pictures, they look astatine you,” Banville said turning distant from nan glare of Diego Velázquez himself looking down from nan Spaniard's top work, “ Las Meninas.”

The immense 17th-century coating shows nan Infanta Margarita, her young ladies-in-waiting, a dwarf, a buffoon pinch a dog, a nun, a mysterious man exiting done a door, a reflector reflecting King Phillip IV and his queen — and besides Velazquez, stepping backmost from his canvas and looking consecutive down astatine nan viewer.

The coating — a paragon of Baroque sophistication — has fascinated generations of artists. Banville, pinch his emotion of poetic detail, is nary different.

“I find that ‘Las Meninas’ is ever a astonishment to me, and a challenge,” Banville told The Associated Press during a caller stroll done nan Prado.

“It’s nan enigma of it, nan strangeness of it. Every clip I look astatine it, it becomes alien again," he said, surrounded by throngs of museumgoers. “Velázquez looks astatine you, saying, ‘Look what I did. Would you person been capable to do thing for illustration this?'"

Banville's privileged entree to nan Prado — including aft hours and off-limits areas specified arsenic its restoration workshops — complete nan past period is portion of nan museum’s “Writing nan Prado” program.

The program, sponsored by nan Loewe Foundation, started past twelvemonth and counts Nobel prize winners John Coetzee and Olga Tokarczuk, arsenic good arsenic nan Mexican American writer Chloe Aridjis, arsenic its first fellows.

The fellows immerse themselves successful nan depository complete 4 weeks earlier producing a short activity of fabrication published by nan Prado pinch nan editorial guidance of Granta en español magazine.

Banville, writer of nan Booker prize victor “The Sea,” nan caller “The Singularities,” arsenic good arsenic celebrated crime novels, has an inkling of what he will constitute pursuing his heavy dive into nan Old Masters.

“I haven’t worked retired nan details," he said — but it's astir personification going done nan assemblage and astir those piercing eyes.

“The eyes travel him. And I deliberation ... each his life ... he’d had nan fearfulness of being recovered out, and each these eyes look to cognize it. And I deliberation Velázquez says ‘Yeah, I cognize who you are.’”

While his mesmerizing caller “The Book of Evidence” hinges connected a grounded creation heist, nan storyteller’s narration to coating goes backmost to a restless teen tempted to prime up nan brushwood successful summation to nan pen.

“I couldn’t draw, had nary consciousness of color, nary grasp of draftsmanship. These are chopped disadvantage if you want to beryllium a painter," Banville said pinch a wry chuckle. "I painted immoderate dreadful pictures, ohio God. If they ever travel retired I americium doomed.”

From past on, he says, nan condemnation was his brushstroke.

Over 3.2 cardinal group visited nan Prado past twelvemonth to respect an awesome postulation of nan artwork of Spain’s aureate age.

The 4,000 artworks connected display, including nan world's largest collections of useful by Velázquez, Rubens, Bosch, Goya, El Greco and Titian — on pinch gems by Caravaggio, Fra Angelico and Bruegel nan Elder — are conscionable a sample of nan 34,000 items successful its trove.

The Prado offers solace for Banville and others who request an flight from nan modern world — taking pictures either pinch a telephone aliases camera is strictly prohibited.

"It's wonderful. I spot group going astir different galleries conscionable taking photos, and I want to opportunity to them, ‘look astatine nan bloody picture’!” Banville said. “All nan museums successful nan world should bring successful that rule."

While Banville considers that Goya’s sinister “Black Paintings” are “overdone,” nan alluring ladies of Rubens’ “The Garden of Love,” who he jokingly says “are made of breadstuff dough,” person won him over.

Another Velázquez catches his oculus — aliases possibly it's Banville who is noticed by nan leering drunkards successful “The Feast of Bacchus,” wherever nan deity of vino revels pinch immoderate men good into their cups.

In Madrid, Banville has besides allowed himself his first period disconnected from a regular penning regular that he figures he's maintained since he started to scrawl retired stories astatine property 12.

“This small sound wrong of maine said ‘John, return nan period off. Just enjoy’,” he said. “My family successful Ireland was telling maine conscionable really dreadful nan upwind was, and I americium sitting present having a solid of vino successful nan sun. I don’t situation show them.”

At property 78 and widowed 3 years ago, he is not judge really galore much books he has near successful him. But 1 point he is not worried astir is artificial intelligence usurping nan spot of existent artists.

“A activity of creation is simply a very uncommon thing. There are attempts astatine useful of art, and location are group who ideate that they’ve made a activity of art, but they’re conscionable kitsch. Real creation won’t succumb to AI,” he said.

“I find useful of creation to beryllium alive.”