File:Philip II of Spain portrait (cropped).jpg
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Summary
Salomon Noveliers: English: Portrait of Philip II of Spain (1527–1598)
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| Title |
English: Portrait of Philip II of Spain (1527–1598) |
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| Description |
Deutsch: Ganzfiguriges Porträt Philipps II. von Spanien (1527–1598) in Rüstung und mit dem Orden vom Goldenen Vlies, mit Inventarnummer „406“ und bezeichnet links unten: Philippe 2 Reÿ de Spañia, Öl auf Leinwand, 201 x 121 cm; Habsburger Hofmaler um 1600; Pendant (Porträt der Ehefrau Mary Tudor jetzt in Apsley House, London)
English: Portrait of Philip II of Spain (1527–1598), full-length, wearing armour and the Order of the Golden Fleece, with inventory number ‘406’ and inscribed lower left: Philippe 2 Reÿ de Spañia,
oil on canvas, 201 x 121 cm, framed) |
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| Date | between circa 1630 and circa 1635 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medium | oil on canvas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions | 201 × 121 cm (79.1 × 47.6 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Collection | Private collection | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Object history | Collection of the Marqués de Leganés 1637, inv. no. 406; Collection of the Marqués de Leganés 1642, inv. no. 406; Collection of the Marqués de Leganés 1655, Palacio de San Bernardo, inv. no. 406; by descent to the Collection of the XI Conde de Altamira, Ventura de Osorio, Palacio de San Bernardo, 1726 (inventory compiled when the Palacio de San Bernardo was leased to the Imperial Ambassador Count Koenigsegg: ‘Pieza de las Vaiettas […] Ottro Rettratto de Phelipe 2º de vara d ancho y dos y media de alto, nº 406’); probably among the paintings confiscated by Bonaparte in 1812 (see literature); probably returned to the Conde de Altamira, 1814; sale, Mr. Stanley, London, 1 June 1827, lot 61 (‘Philip the Second in rich Armour. From the Altamira Gallery’); Collection of Sir Samuel Meyrick (1783–1848); purchased from the Meyrick collection in 1872 (according to an inscription on the reverse); art market, England; where acquired by the present owner. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes |
In 1628, Peter Paul Rubens, in a letter to his regular correspondent Pierre Dupuy in Paris, commented on a Spanish courtier from Brussels, who was visiting the French capital. Dupuy had just met that courtier, who accompanied the famous General Ambrogio Spinola, his father-in-law. The young man, the Marques de Leganés, Rubens wrote, ‘is one of the greatest connoisseurs of our age’. Rubens at that time had been familiar with Leganés for at least three years, and his assessment demonstrates the importance of the Marques as a collector even to his contemporaries (see M. Crawford Volk, New light on a seventeenth-century collector: The Marquis of Leganée, in: The Art Bulletin, vol. 62, no. 2, June 1980, pp. 256-268, p. 256, N.1). The near princely Leganés collection numbered more than 1300 paintings upon the death of the first Marquis in 1655. He was an insatiable art collector. While his collection included works by Spanish painters such as Velásquez, Juan van der Hamen and Ribera, and many major works by Italian artists like Titian, it was particularly noteworthy for the large number of paintings by Flemish contemporaries like Rubens and Van Dyck and also earlier works by artists like Quentin Massys (see M. Crawford Volk, Ibid., 1980, p. 256: ‘Such a vast assemblage was not entirely unheard of in the 17th century, but its serious rivals were few’). Diego Mexía Felípez de Guzmán, later Grandee of Spain and Marques de Leganés (see fig. 1) was one of the most important political and military figures of early seventeenth century Habsburg rule. He had been a page at the court of Archduke Albrecht VII in Brussels in his youth and had led various successful military campaigns in the Netherlands in his service, before returning to Spain following Albrecht’s death in 1621. He moved in the highest political and artistic circles, both in Madrid and in the Spanish Netherlands. His marriage to Polissena, the immensely rich daughter of Ambrogio Spinola in 1627, not only manifested his social position by the union with one of Genoa’s oldest families, but also enabled him to collect and invest on a large scale. His elevation to the Marquessate that same year afforded him his entry into the ranks of the higher nobility. He would be created Grandee of Spain in 1634. Amongst many other acquisitions he made whilst on various diplomatic and military missions in the Spanish Netherlands during his residence in Brussels from 1630–35, Leganés commissioned an impressive series of full-length portraits of rulers of the House of Habsburg from the royal household in Brussels. The series was intended to decorate Leganés palace in Madrid, the Palacio de San Bernardo, which was considered in 1722 by the French traveller Saint Simon, to be ‘una de las casas más magníficas de Madrid y la mejor amueblada’ (see Saint Simon, Cuadro de la Corte de España en 1722, Madrid 1933, p. 66). It was to demonstrate his allegiance to the House of Habsburg, to whose patronage Leganés owed so much. The series depicted the monarchs and their consorts, beginning with Philip I ‘The Handsome’ of Spain, and ending with the emperor ruling at the time of the commission, Ferdinand III (the series bears the inventory numbers 403–424 in the Leganés inventory from 1655). This was not altogether unusual, as many of the great European princely and royal collections featured comparable series, but the sheer scale and quality of the commissioned works mark this as an outstanding artistic endeavour, befitting the impressive volume and quality of the Leganés collection. The vast majority of the portraits of the series commissioned in Brussels are lost, and only a small number has been identified or rediscovered (inv. no. 408, a portrait of Mary of Portugal, is in a New York private collection; inv. no. 409, a portrait of Queen Anne Tudor is in the Wellington Collection, Apsley House; inv. no. 413, a portrait of King Philipp IV is at Stratfield Saye, in the Wellington Collection; inv. no. 414, a portrait of Queen Isabella de Bourbon is in New York, The Hispanic Society; inv. no. 415, a portrait of Rudolf II. that is still considered to be a work by Hans van Aachen by some scholars owing to its outstanding quality, is also at Apsley House). The present, impressive portrait of Philipp II has a documented provenance from 1637 through to the eighteenth century, before disappearing following the decline of the Spanish empire and the sale of much of the Leganés collection in the early nineteenth century. It is one of the most accomplished works from that series, and its rediscovery is remarkable in itself. It affords a rare opportunity to understand artistic patronage and dynastic iconography at the very centre of Habsburg rule. Its great painterly quality also sheds light on the role of court painter and might help establish the authorship of that series, which has been the subject of art historical debate. Like most of the paintings in the Leganés series, the present portrait follows a slightly earlier model. The companion piece to the present painting, a portrait of Queen Mary Tudor, wife of Philipp II, was acquired by the Duke of Wellington in the early nineteenth century and is still at Apsley House, London (see fig. 2). Stylistically very similar in its realistic depiction of the physiognomy as well as the shimmering textures, it features the same characteristic Leganés inventory numbers as well as a very similar dark lettered inscription on the bottom left. Like the present painting, the artist of the Wellington painting drew inspiration from earlier models, and both are related to works by Antonis Mor. The impressive portrait shows Philip II after his victory in the Battle of Saint Quentin. On 10th August 1557, the Spanish troops emerged successful thanks to English support and celebrated their decisive victory in the conflict between the Habsburg Empire and the French. Their success in the battle, which was won on the very day dedicated to Saint Lawrence, also gave rise to the foundation of the monastery San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which subsequently served as a burial place for the Spanish monarchs. Although Philip himself did not partake in the battle, the victory was staged as the king’s triumph in the present portrait. Philip is thus depicted as General of the light cavalry (guintes). Dressed in a breast harness and chain mail, he wears a brassard around the upper arm. In his right hand he carries the Field Marshal’s staff, while his left-hand rests on the hilt of his sword. Philip wears the so-called Armadura con las cruzes de Borgona, which is now in the Armeria Real in Madrid. Another later variant after Mor by Alonso Sanchez Coello is conserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and a further version is in the Staatliche Sammlungen Berlin. A slightly modified variant is conserved in the National Portrait Gallery in London. It is interesting to note that the present painting, must, at some point in its history, have been attributed to Coello, as an old inscription on the back would suggest. The authorship of the Leganés series, and subsequently the present painting, has been subject of discussion. Whilst some scholars such as Mary Volk have argued that the series was ‘collected’ from various artists, to form a heterogenous gallery, which would potentially place the present painting more in the orbit of the Mor workshop, or suggest an identification by another pupil such as Sanchez Coello (see M. Crawford Volk, Of Connoisseurs and Kings: Velásquez’ Philip IV at Fenway Court, Fenway Court 1985, pp. 22-35), José Juan Pérez Preciado has convincingly presented evidence for another artist. He is convinced that the Archduke’s court painter and curator of the Palace of Tervueren, Salomon Noveliers, painted the whole series (see J. J. Pérez Preciado, El Marqués de Leganés y las artes, Madrid 2010, vol. I, pp. 728-730). Indeed, the present painting has been considered a work by the Mor Studio, and also by Coello in the past, whilst the portrait of Rudolph II in the series is of such quality that it is still sometimes considered an autograph work by Hans van Aachen. The quality of the few paintings of the series that have been rediscovered is remarkable. In the 1655 inventory of the Leganés Collection, the authorship is clearly noted: inventory number 402, a portrait of Philipp I, is described as ‘Un retrato de Phelipe el primero por otro ne el hermoso de dos baras y media de alto y una y una terçia de ancho de mano de noueliers del nº quatroçientos y dos se taso en morata’, whilst the present painting – inventory number 406 – like many others in the series is described as ‘by the same hand’ (‘Otro del Rey phelipe segundo de la misma mano del nº quatroçientos y seis la taso en ochoçientos y ochenta Reales’) (see J. J. Pérez Preciado, Ibid., Madrid 2008, pp. 303, 304). Thus, it would appear plausible that Noveliers was indeed the artist responsible for the whole series. It is interesting to note that the 1655 inventory gives valuations for each painting in the series. The present portrait was valued at 880 Reales, by far the highest estimation given. Most others were valued between 200 and 300 Reales. Salomon Noveliers (active 1618 – died 1666) painted for the Archduke Albrecht VII and the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Austria, from 1634 and he was considered painter of the court until 1659. He received an annual payment from the court during these years. Taking into consideration the wealth of painters and workshops available to the Governor, the fact of this long continuing employment as court artist demonstrates in itself that he must have been a painter of great ability. Closely connected to the Rubens workshop and other artistic centres of the period, his oeuvre is only recently being rediscovered. (EXTRACTED FROM: Dorotheum:  Info about artwork) |
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| Source/Photographer |
Dorotheum: Info about artwork |
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