This portrait was cut from a larger religious subject in order to try to create an independent portrait; when it entered The Met the surrounding elements, including altarpiece and candlesticks that visibly link it to that original composition, had been painted out. The sitter, who presumably paid for the larger painting, and the artist are unidentified; however, the tonality and loose, dry paint strokes were fashionable among painters in Madrid during the second half of the seventeenth century.
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Eugen Boross, Larchmont, N.Y. (1922–31; bought at auction in London; sold to Kleinberger); [Kleinberger, Paris and New York, 1931; sold to Friedsam]; Michael Friedsam, New York (d. 1931)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Michael Friedsam Collection," November 15, 1932–April 9, 1933, no catalogue.
Gabriel v. Térey. "Die Murillo-Bilder der Sammlung Eugen Boross in Larchmond (New York)." Der Cicerone 15 (1923), pp. 773–74, unpaginated ill. (before cleaning), states that Eugen Boross bought this picture in the fall of 1922 in London and immediately recognized it as by Murillo, an opinion corroborated by Mayer [see Refs. 1923] who had recently examined it in America.
August L. Mayer. "Retratos españoles en el extranjero." Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones 31 (March 1923), p. 124, unpaginated ill. (before cleaning), attributes this picture to Murillo, based on its technique and color, and dates it about 1660–70; notes that it was sold some months before at auction in London, as by an anonymous artist; also reproduces a Portrait of a Lady (then with Scott and Fowles, New York; present location unknown), which he attributes to Juan Carreño de Miranda and dates to about 1670; does not comment on any relationship between the two portraits [but see Ref. Pérez Mínguez 1923].
Fidel Pérez Mínguez. "Notas de un peregrino." Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones 31 (March 1923), pp. 206–7, 211–12, calls this picture and "Portrait of a Lady" (formerly Scott and Fowles, New York) fragments of the same painting, identifying the sitters as Cristóbal García de Segovia and his wife, Gabriela de Ingunza; bases his argument on similarities to a painting of these sitters with their children in the chapel of Cristo de Gracia in the village of Las Navas del Marqués (province of Avila; ill. opp. p. 208).
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, p. 245, ill., attributes this picture to an unknown Andalusian painter and dates it to the second half of the 17th century; notes that after cleaning it was revealed to be part of a larger painting of a donor kneeling beside an altar, adding that the inscription and a portion of a dress shown in the upper right corner indicate that there was a figure of the Virgin on the altar; states that a strip from the upper part of the picture has been attached at the left.
Margaretta M. Salinger. Letter to Martin S. Soria. August 17, 1942, agrees with Soria [see Ref. 1942] that the Portrait of a Lady (formerly Scott and Fowles, New York) "must have opposed" the MMA picture.
Martin S. Soria. Letter to Margaretta M. Salinger. July 30, 1942, refers to the fragment, Portrait of a Lady (formerly Scott and Fowles, New York) as the "exact counterpart" to this picture.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 91.
Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño. La pintura española fuera de España. Madrid, 1958, p. 98, no. 158, calls it Andalusian, from the second half of the 17th century; sees no connection with Murillo.
Diego Angulo Iñiguez. Murillo. Madrid, 1981, vol. 2, p. 587, no. 2.903, attributes this portrait to the school of Madrid and calls it a fragment from a devotional picture; observes that it has been repainted on the right hand side; mistakenly asserts that a fragment of a kneeling woman from the same altarpiece is also in the MMA.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 162, ill.
Enrique Valdivieso. Letter to Dulce Roman. January 13, 1997, attributes this picture to a follower of Murillo in Seville and dates it around 1670.
Edward J. Sullivan. Letter to Dulce Roman. June 2, 1998, suggests this picture may be a fragment of a late School of Madrid painting from about 1650–1700, mentioning Carreño, Antolinez, and Coello as possibilities.
In 1931, this unknown sitter was identified as Antonio Alvarez, Spanish ambassador to London in the seventeenth century [from the archive of the dealer, Kleinberger, in the European Paintings file]. Following the removal of overpaint, this picture was discovered to be a fragment of a donor portrait, a type in which the sitter kneels at an altar with a figure of the standing Virgin. Pérez Mínguez (1923) surmised that The Met's portrait and a portrait of a woman (present location unknown) were part of the same painting and identified the male sitter as Cristóbal García de Segovia, a clergyman and member of the Order of Calatrava.
Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (Spanish, Seville 1599–1660 Madrid)
1622–23
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