It’s quite an audacious thing to create an exhibition which purports to represent a nation – and a world culture too. At the Royal Academy a new exhibition fills the main galleries with a vast sweep of Spanish and Hispanic art gathered from Spain, South America and around the world. The collection was built up in New York by members of the Hispanic Society who made it their role in life to buy and preserved examples of quality Spanish and Hispanic Art.

There are many unusual artworks created for the church included in the collection. I was very drawn to the carved wooden busts, the truly weird mixed media impression of the Wedding at Cana made with mother of pearl and the curious proportions of El Greco’s St Jerome.

I did like the little sketches by Goya. One is of a woman with her small children – clearly a loving maternal portrait – and the the other one is of a girl checking her clothes for fleas. I feel sure there’s quite a back story to that picture!

This portrait of a family in a very lusciously illustrated manuscript really impressed me. Apologies for the rather out of focus photo. But the couple and the child look so remarkably good that they must have been painted from life.

Into the 20th century and the art becomes freer and more expressive. I really liked this painting of children wallowing in the shallows by Joaquin Sorolla from 1908. The composition is wonderful and the impression of wet bodies and small waves is so cleverly created.

Two group paintings caught my eye. On the left is The Family of the Gypsy Bullfighter by Ignacio Zuloaga from 1903 and on the right is Girls of Burriana from 1910 by Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa. The delight in the relationships and the sumptuous clothing make them a pleasure to view.

The show is on at the Royal Academy from 21st January to 10 April 2023.