On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P00650
- Author
- Carreño de Miranda, Juan (Spanish)
- Title
- The Duke of Pastrana
- Chronology
- Ca. 1666
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 217 cm x 155 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COMPRA
- Procedence
- Acquisition, 1896
Don Gregorio de Silva Mendoza y
Sandoval was an important
aristocrat in the court of Carlos
II and was appointed Knight of
Santiago in 1666, shortly before
this portrait was painted. The
scallop shell hanging on his chest
and the cross that adorns his
clothing are indications of that
honor.
This image reflects all the
rhetoric which portraiture had
attained in Spain by the second
half of the seventeenth century.
The cape draped over his arm, the
crop and sword as symbolic elements
and, most of all, the two servants
that accompany him, are elements
alluding to his high status.
The work reveals the evolution of
Spanish portraiture, which is
evident in the choice of Flemish
models combined with Velasquez's
technique, but free of the rigidity
of traditional court
portraiture.
The painting was acquired from the
Osuna family in 1896. They were
heirs to the House of Pastrana, and
the painting had almost certainly
been in their hands since it was
first painted.
Location on the map
