Juan José of Austria
1677. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This is a portrait depicting John Joseph of Austria dressed in half armour, high riding boots, a sash and general’s sash from which his sword hangs. His right hand firmly grasps the general’s sceptre, and his left hand rests haughtily on his hip. He wears a French-style kerchief around his neck and the cross of the Order of Malta on his chest. The illegitimate royal is placed within an architectural space. Behind him, to the left, are two columns on a broad base, the first of which bears the following inscription on the podium: SMUS. D. D. IOANNES AUSTRIACUS FILIPHI IV ISPANIARUM REGIS MAGNI FILIUS SECUNDUS. Above the head of Don Juan José several angels flutter around, carrying the palm, an olive branch, the shield and the helmet. Drapery also descends from the heavens and is tied around one of the columns. In the background is a landscape with what appears to be a naval scene and some sort of tower or lighthouse.
This is the same portrait that Palomino mentioned in the Sala de la Procuración de la Real Cartuja del Paular (Procuration Room of the Real Cartuja del Paular). The painting must have remained there until the 19th century when, after the Ecclesiastical Confiscation, it was passed to the Museo de la Trinidad and then to the Museo del Prado. Subsequently, for almost a century it was on permanent loan by the Prado to the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Economic Society of Friends of the Nation) in Santiago de Compostela until 1986, when it was transferred, also as a permanent loan, to the Museo Balaguer, where it is now kept.
Pascual Chenel, Álvaro, El retrato de Estado durante el reinado de Carlos II. Imagen y propaganda, Madrid, Fundación Universitaria Española, 2010, p.602-3 cat. PJ7
