Spanish Royal Workshop, circa 1625–1630
Portrait of Philip IV of Spain (1605–1665), full-length, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece,
oil on canvas, 189 x 105.5 cm, framed
We are grateful to Gloria Martínez Leiva for suggesting the attribution and for her help in cataloguing the present painting.
In this impressive portrait, King Philip IV of Spain, in his early twenties, is depicted dressed in black, standing in a three-quarter position against an undefined and austere reddish-brown background. In a pose he adopted during official proceedings at the court, he holds the hilt of his sword in his left hand, in his right hand, a folded piece of paper. The Order of the Golden Fleece is the only ornament present on his clothing. A tall table with a red cloth trimmed with gold appears to the left side of the King, on which his tall black hat lies. The King’s dress is much more sober than was customary in earlier royal portraits, lacking jewels and other adornments, and it is topped by a "valona", a Walloon collar of the kind that replaced the more decorative "lechuguilla" (ruff) in 1623. Formal portraits served as official images which circulated throughout Europe and the Americas. Here, a sombre simplicity befitting the pious monarch departs from the opulence of earlier Spanish court portraiture. Philip IV sought to distance himself from the image of favouritism, caprice, and squandering associated with his predecessor, his father, King Philip III (r. 1578–1621). The King stands, an impressive figure, magnificently clad in sombre attire, to the fore of the painting and it is possible to sense his pride and formidable character.
The ascension of Philip IV to the Spanish throne in 1621 marked a major change in foreign and domestic policy. The main advisor of the King, the Count-Duke of Olivares, persuaded him of the need to regenerate the monarchy and regain the lost prestige during the reign of his father. Economic and political measures to strengthen the royal authority were undertaken. Whilst politically and economically Philip’s reign marked the beginning of the decline of the Habsburg Empire, it was also during this time that the arts flourished, characterising the reign as the "Siglo de oro", the Golden Age.
The present painting is a version of Velázquez’ famous portrait of the King in the Prado, Madrid (oil on canvas, 198 x 101.5 cm, inv. no. P001182) and is one in a series, Velázquez and the Royal workshop painted after the artist’s appointment to the court in 1623. After Velázquez executed the first version of this portrait type for the King, which is now in the Prado, the courtier Don García Pérez de Araciel, paid the artist for an autograph replica on 4 December 1624. This replica is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (oil on canvas, 200 x 102.9 cm, inv. no. 14.40.639). Remarkably, the Prado picture as we see it today represents a complete reworking by Velázquez. X-Ray analysis has revealed that some years after finishing it, he made important changes to the original portrait painted in 1623. The version in the Metropolitan Museum documents the first stage of this portrait type, before these adjustments were made, whilst the present painting records the second stage of Velázquez’ development of an official portrait type. A version very similar to the present painting is in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (oil on canvas, 201.2 x 109.5 cm, inv. no. P26e18). Executed in the Royal studio, the present painting is striking in its modern simplicity of the design, employing Velázquez’s technique of ‘a stripping away of the remaining vestiges of regal paraphernalia in accordance with the notion that there is no more effective expression of majesty than the royal person himself’ (see G. Finaldi, Philip IV in Brown and Silver, in: Velázquez, ed. by D. Davies, exhibition catalogue, London, 2006, p. 172).
The Royal workshop painters had access to the original composition and apparently applied a process of contour tracing from the first version, Gloria Martínez has observed. This is especially visible when comparing the outlines of the faces of several versions of the composition including the present one. They differ only by no more than a centimetre. Stylistically, the rendering of the King’s face culminates a process of physiognomic simplification that Velázquez had begun earlier. The result is an almost impassive expression befitting the ideal of royal dignity.
Velázquez had just been appointed court artist when the present painting was executed and had not yet established his own workshop practice, as the composition was among his first commissions. It was only after his return from Italy that he set up his studio in the Alcázar of Madrid, in a room inside the Gallery of Cierzo, as is documented by the presence of his first assistants – one of whom, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, would become his son-in-law. By around 1625, when the present painting appears to have been commissioned, it is likely that a working practice of the artists in the Royal studio of the Alcázar had been established. Based on a prototype developed and painted by the master, they produced variants of the royal image which would be dispatched at home and in particular abroad, as diplomatic gifts. It is highly likely that Velázquez himself would have supervised and retouched these royal portraits destined for foreign courts in the final stage of their execution, which would be plausible in the case of the present painting.
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Portrait of Philip IV of Spain (1605–1665), full-length, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece,
oil on canvas, 189 x 105.5 cm, framed
We are grateful to Gloria Martínez Leiva for suggesting the attribution and for her help in cataloguing the present painting.
In this impressive portrait, King Philip IV of Spain, in his early twenties, is depicted dressed in black, standing in a three-quarter position against an undefined and austere reddish-brown background. In a pose he adopted during official proceedings at the court, he holds the hilt of his sword in his left hand, in his right hand, a folded piece of paper. The Order of the Golden Fleece is the only ornament present on his clothing. A tall table with a red cloth trimmed with gold appears to the left side of the King, on which his tall black hat lies. The King’s dress is much more sober than was customary in earlier royal portraits, lacking jewels and other adornments, and it is topped by a "valona", a Walloon collar of the kind that replaced the more decorative "lechuguilla" (ruff) in 1623. Formal portraits served as official images which circulated throughout Europe and the Americas. Here, a sombre simplicity befitting the pious monarch departs from the opulence of earlier Spanish court portraiture. Philip IV sought to distance himself from the image of favouritism, caprice, and squandering associated with his predecessor, his father, King Philip III (r. 1578–1621). The King stands, an impressive figure, magnificently clad in sombre attire, to the fore of the painting and it is possible to sense his pride and formidable character.
The ascension of Philip IV to the Spanish throne in 1621 marked a major change in foreign and domestic policy. The main advisor of the King, the Count-Duke of Olivares, persuaded him of the need to regenerate the monarchy and regain the lost prestige during the reign of his father. Economic and political measures to strengthen the royal authority were undertaken. Whilst politically and economically Philip’s reign marked the beginning of the decline of the Habsburg Empire, it was also during this time that the arts flourished, characterising the reign as the "Siglo de oro", the Golden Age.
The present painting is a version of Velázquez’ famous portrait of the King in the Prado, Madrid (oil on canvas, 198 x 101.5 cm, inv. no. P001182) and is one in a series, Velázquez and the Royal workshop painted after the artist’s appointment to the court in 1623. After Velázquez executed the first version of this portrait type for the King, which is now in the Prado, the courtier Don García Pérez de Araciel, paid the artist for an autograph replica on 4 December 1624. This replica is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (oil on canvas, 200 x 102.9 cm, inv. no. 14.40.639). Remarkably, the Prado picture as we see it today represents a complete reworking by Velázquez. X-Ray analysis has revealed that some years after finishing it, he made important changes to the original portrait painted in 1623. The version in the Metropolitan Museum documents the first stage of this portrait type, before these adjustments were made, whilst the present painting records the second stage of Velázquez’ development of an official portrait type. A version very similar to the present painting is in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (oil on canvas, 201.2 x 109.5 cm, inv. no. P26e18). Executed in the Royal studio, the present painting is striking in its modern simplicity of the design, employing Velázquez’s technique of ‘a stripping away of the remaining vestiges of regal paraphernalia in accordance with the notion that there is no more effective expression of majesty than the royal person himself’ (see G. Finaldi, Philip IV in Brown and Silver, in: Velázquez, ed. by D. Davies, exhibition catalogue, London, 2006, p. 172).
The Royal workshop painters had access to the original composition and apparently applied a process of contour tracing from the first version, Gloria Martínez has observed. This is especially visible when comparing the outlines of the faces of several versions of the composition including the present one. They differ only by no more than a centimetre. Stylistically, the rendering of the King’s face culminates a process of physiognomic simplification that Velázquez had begun earlier. The result is an almost impassive expression befitting the ideal of royal dignity.
Velázquez had just been appointed court artist when the present painting was executed and had not yet established his own workshop practice, as the composition was among his first commissions. It was only after his return from Italy that he set up his studio in the Alcázar of Madrid, in a room inside the Gallery of Cierzo, as is documented by the presence of his first assistants – one of whom, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, would become his son-in-law. By around 1625, when the present painting appears to have been commissioned, it is likely that a working practice of the artists in the Royal studio of the Alcázar had been established. Based on a prototype developed and painted by the master, they produced variants of the royal image which would be dispatched at home and in particular abroad, as diplomatic gifts. It is highly likely that Velázquez himself would have supervised and retouched these royal portraits destined for foreign courts in the final stage of their execution, which would be plausible in the case of the present painting.
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