Don Gaspar de Guzmán

Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587–1645), Count-Duke of Olivares

Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587–1645), Count-Duke of Olivares

Artist:
Attributed to Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (Spanish, Seville 1599–1660 Madrid)
Artist:
and/or Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (Spanish, Cuenca ca. 1612–1667 Madrid)
Date:
ca. 1635
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
50 1/4 x 41 in. (127.6 x 104.1 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Fletcher Fund, 1952

The Count-Duke of Olivares was Philip IV’s powerful prime minister between 1621 and 1643. This picture is either a preliminary model or a reduced variant of a large equestrian portrait of the count-duke (Prado, Madrid), painted perhaps in celebration of a victory over the French at the border town of Fuenterrabía in 1638. In full armor and holding a baton, he is shown as a victorious commander. His horse holds a dressage position known as a levade.

The Count-Duke of Olivares was Philip IV’s powerful prime minister between 1621 and 1643. Although of extremely fine quality and incorporating differences, this picture is probably a reduced variant of a life-size equestrian portrait of the count-duke in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It may have been painted by his son-in-law, Juan Bautista del Mazo—possibly with Velazquez’s intervention. Olivares is shown in full armor and holding a baton, as a victorious commander. His horse holds a dressage position known as a levade. In the background smoke rises from the battlefield.

Provenance

Colonel Lemotteux, Paris (by 1806; probably removed from Spain during the Peninsula War; sold for £15,000 to Elgin); Colonel Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine, Broomhall, Dunfermline, Fife (1806–41); Earls of Elgin and of Kincardine, Broomhall (1841–1917); Edward James Bruce, 10th Earl of Elgin and 14th Earl of Kincardine, Broomhall (1917–52; sold through Agnew, London, for $207,200 to MMA)

Copyright Image
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