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This followingnoon it went up for auction in the room Abalarte Madrid ‘Portrait of a gentleman’, attributed to Velázquez. It started with an estimate of between 2.5 and 3 million euros. Its starting price: 2.5 million. Was two interested collectors in the box, who bid by phone. Your final price: 4.270.000 euros, including commissions. The Ministry of Culture did not exercise its right of first refusal.
There was evidence for decades of the existence of this ‘Portrait of a gentleman’, which has a pedigree. It comes from the collection of the viscounts of Roda, descendants of the Count of Adanero, who amassed a fabulous art collection. Its owners wanted to take it out of Spain years ago, but the Board for Qualification, Valuation and Export of Spanish Historical Heritage Assets, dependent on the Ministry of Culture, declared it inexportable in 2004. In 2007 it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) by the Community of Madrid, thus granting it maximum protection.
Oil on canvas, 32 by 23.3 centimetersit is closed around 1621-1623, a few years of transition of the young Velázquez between Seville and Madrid. It appears as a work of the Flemish School in the inventory of the Marquis of Castroserna in 1905. It was attributed to Velázquez in 1924 by J. Peñuelas, and with this authorship it already appears in the inventory of the widowed Viscountess of Roda in 1932. There is no news that has been present at any exhibition. This is, therefore, the first time that this work appears in public, which was deposited in the Prado during the Civil War.
in 1986 Alfonso Perez Sanchezthen director of the museum (he was from 1983 to 1991), and Carmen Garrido, head of the Technical Documentation Cabinet of the art gallery, who died in 2020, examined it for the first time. In 1999, Pérez Sánchez attributed it to Velázquez. This is stated in the article ‘Novelties of Velazquez’, published in an extraordinary number of ‘Archivo Español de Arte’, dedicated to the master and his time. Pérez Sánchez writes regarding this painting: «I think there should be no doubt regarding the attribution to Velázquez». Years later, in 2003, he confirms his opinion: «I sincerely believe that it is the work of Velázquez, around 1622-1623». Attribution shared by Carmen Garrido, who studied this work in depth: X-rays, pigment analysis… She appreciated that the materials in the painting are from the period and are used in the same way as the painter. Her report will be published shortly by the University of Lleida.
Explica a ABC Richard de Willermin, a specialist in ancient painting, that the oil was painted on taffeta canvas, which Velázquez used in other compositions from that same period, and that the canvas is cut on all four sides. It is believed that it was made when it was relined, possibly in the 19th century, but it is not possible to know its original measurements. Also the relining must have caused the surface of the frame to be slightly flattened by excess heat.
It is possibly a sketch for another larger work, something Velázquez did with some royal portraits. The gentleman wears a very striking ruff, which is not typical of the time. It is believed that the artist conceived a different ruff than the one he wears today. It is known that the lace was added later, perhaps due to a change in fashion taste. But Richard de Willermin has no doubts and clearly sees the master’s hand on the sitter’s face, very elaborate, which appears illuminated: the aquiline nose, the eyes, the ear, the cheeks… There is a certain wear on the paint on the left side. The work was restored on an undetermined date: old repainting was removed.
Unable to identify model of the portrait. It does seem that he posed for Velázquez and that it would be someone of high social rank. “He might be some foreigner who was at Court,” says De Willermin. The intense look of the sitter stands out, which seems to strike us down with it. It bears many similarities with other works by Velázquez: the ‘Portrait of Góngora’ (1622) in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (they share the same modeling and treatment of light) and the ‘Portrait of Philip IV’ (1623) in the Prado.
In recent years there has been a barrage of Velazquez attributions, some with greater consensus than others. Apart from the ‘Portrait of a girl’ auctioned in Abalarte in 2017 (it was later sold by Caylus for more than 8 million euros), in 2010 Velázquez was attributed ‘The education of the Virgin’, from Yale University (experts such as Jonathan Brown questioned its authorship). Over the years, ‘Ars Magazine’ has published various attributions from Velázquez, such as Peter Cherry’s ‘Portrait of a Man’, acquired in 2011 at auction at Bonhams for 3.4 million; the ‘Portrait of Don Sebastián de Huerta’ or the ‘Portrait of the Knight Marquand’, one of the three works in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of New York attributed to Velázquez in ten years. And in 2017 William Jordan donated a ‘Portrait of Philip III’ of the master to the Prado.
