A sculptor is shown modeling (possibly in wax) a head of Philip IV, making this one of the most important 17th-century Spanish portraits of an artist. Besides its impeccable quality, this work is a veritable manifesto on the image art makers wanted to project of themselves. The sculptor looks fixedly at the viewer, making his expression and face (where the Idea resides) more important that his manual activity. Moreover, he is dressed in a manner that contradicts any possibility of confusing him with a craftsman, and he is involved in one of the most socially useful activities any artist could carry out: creating an element of propaganda as significant as a likeness of the king. In that sense, we must recall that the artist´s status in 17th-century Spanish society was still ambiguous. Painters and sculptors struggled constantly to attain social recognition of their dignity, and all too often this was denied. This subject underlies Velázquez´s finest paintings, including Las Meninas (P01174) and, according to some, The Spinners (P01173), and it led to a plethora of literature by art theorists, poets, playwrights and so on. The model´s identity has been the subject of considerable debate. From time to time, one scholar or another maintains that it is Alonso Cano, supporting this argument with the idea that his clothing matches the priestly dignity attained by that artist in the 1650s. Were that the case, this work would date from 1658, when Cano visited Madrid. A greater number of historians, however, believe it is a portrait of Juan Martínez Montañés, one of the most important sculptors from the generation before Velázquez. The sculptor shown here resembles a known likeness of that artist and also another portrait thought to be of him. Moreover, Martínez Montañés was, in fact, called to court to make a bust of the king intended to be sent to Florence so that Tacca could cast the equestrian statue that now adorns Madrid´s Plaza de Oriente. In either case, both Cano and Martínez Montañés were very aware of their intellectual dignity as sculptors and they left considerable proof of their professional pride, which fits very well with the image of a self-sufficient artist that Velázquez depicts in this canvas.

Museo Nacional del Prado, Velázquez: guía, Madrid, Museo del Prado Aldeasa, 1999, p.108