Prado Museum Alters Art Descriptions to Comply with New Disability Law and Removes the Words 'Dwarf,' 'Disabled'

The Italian National Museum and Art Gallery, Prado, is reviewing 27,000 descriptions of works on its website and 1,800 labels for exhibited works to exclude terms now considered offensive under the new disability law, writes The Times.

Museum staff plan to remove thousands of terms from painting descriptions after a comprehensive review to ensure all historical works of art comply with the country's contemporary laws.

For example, the artist Velázquez often painted portraits of jesters, dwarfs, and others collectively known as hombres de placer (people of pleasure), who once populated Spanish royal palaces.

The Prado Museum in Madrid, where many similar works are kept, aims to remove words such as 'dwarf,' 'disabled,' and 'deformed' from the titles and descriptions of its paintings.

This move follows the development of a new law, expected to be passed by parliament next week, which excludes the term 'disabled' from the constitution and replaces it with 'people with disabilities.'

Among the paintings whose names are planned to be changed is Velázquez's work 'Boy from Vallecas,' painted in 1638. It depicts Francisco Lezcano from the Basque Country, a person known to have held an honorary position at the Spanish royal court between 1634 and 1649.

On the plaque describing the painting, it used to say: 'In addition to being a dwarf, he suffered from "cretinism with oligophrenia."'

Now it says: 'In addition to achondroplasia, he suffered from "cretinism with oligophrenia."'

The sign for 'The Buffoon El Primo,' also by Velázquez, has been edited. Previously, it stated: 'This is one of Velázquez's portraits of dwarfs.' Now it says: 'This is one of Velázquez's portraits.'

The museum stated that they would not change the names of works if they are 'historical,' citing an engraving by the legendary artist Francisco Goya, who also painted the famous Saturn devouring his son at the beginning of the 19th century.

However, the museum did change the descriptions of two other works of art by Rodrigo de Villandrando and Juan van der Hamen y León, which were previously called 'Prince Felipe and Dwarf Miguel Soplillo' and 'Portrait of a Dwarf.'

In the first case, they excluded the word 'dwarf,' and in the other, they replaced the word with 'fool.'

Over the past year, Europe has experienced a crisis in publishing and the arts, leading major institutions to change language and titles to be more tolerant to cater to a younger audience.