On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P00807
- Author
- El Greco
- Title
- Portrait of a Doctor
- Chronology
- 1582-1585
- Technique
- Oil
- Support
- Canvas
- Measures
- 96 cm x 82,3 cm x 2 cm
- School
- Spanish
- Theme
- Portrait
- On display
- Yes
- Procedence
- Colección Real (Real Alcázar, Madrid, galería del Cierzo, 1700, nº 182; Palacio Real Nuevo, Madrid, primera sala de la Furriera, 1747, nº 62; Palacio del Buen Retiro, Madrid, galería del mediodía, 1772, nº 62; Buen Retiro, 1794, nº 844; Buen Retiro, 1808).
A portrait of an anonymous person identified as a physician by the ring on his left thumb. According to some scholars, the sitter may be Luis de Mercado, Felipe II's chamber doctor, or Rodrigo de la Fuente, a personal friend of El Greco and a very influential person in Toledo at that time.
This work is listed in the 1686 inventory of Madrid's Alcázar Palace, where it remained until the fire of 1734, when it was transferred to the Buen Retiro Palace, also in Madrid.
It is signed in lower-case Greek letters over the book.
