Velázquez, Olivares, and the Baroque Equestrian Portrait

Author(s): Walter A. Liedtke and John F. Moffitt

Source: The Burlington Magazine , Sep., 1981, Vol. 123, No. 942 (Sep., 1981), pp. 528-537
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 RUBENS IN MADRID AND THE KING'S SUMMER APARTMENTS

manfana figuras grandes moldura dorada y negra. Otro lienfo de mano del dho tipiano que tiene de largo o
Otro lienfo mas pequeno de mano del dho tigianoq que espintada
esta de tarquino quando
la fabula deforpo a quando paso el ma
Europa
Lucrezia estando en la cama con marco dorado... cupidillos con arcos y fechas y la mar otro sobre un del
Un lienfo de mano del ticiano en que esta benus desnuda
Otro y cupido
lienzo conque la estadorada
moldura abrafando
de siete pies y medio de
ya los pies un hombre que esta tadendo un organo tiene cortinas
que carmesiesy
esta benus unque
y adonis pais con una
parte a la cafa y ella que le det
fuente la moldura es dorada y tiene de largo ocho pies.
de trailla y en lejos esta cupido durmiendo -
Otros dos lienfos del ticiano que tienen de largo poco mas de siete pies y molduras
Otro lienfo de siete pies de largo con moldura dorada q e
doradas el uno es Diana en el bano desnudando a la ninfa Calisto ay
esta Jupiter otrasse
quando ninfas y en lejos
transformo en llubia de oro para
una fuente con un nino que bierte el agua de una urna
cama-y el otroyDiana
desnuda banandose
una vieja quando
coxiendo el oro y el lo alto una ag
la vio anteon desnuda y a diana la esta ayudando a poner la camisa
Otro lienpo unatifiano
copia del negra con
- moldura dorada que es la

WALTER A. LIEDTKE and JOHN F. MOFFITT

Velizquez, Olivares, and the baroque equestrian

portrait
AN equestrian portrait like that of Olivares in the Prado
(Fig.34) or the closely related picture in the Metropolitan
Museum (Fig.35) is usually interpreted either in a very
general or a very specific way. On the one hand, this kind
of state portrait has been taken for granted as a very
common form of baroque court art that may be traced
back through the equestrian monument to the early
renaissance and antiquity.1 For a monarch to be
mounted on a horse seems as natural to the modern eye,
and evidently to the seventeenth-century viewer as well,
as the image of a king on a throne or of a conqueror
armed with a sword.2 More specific meanings, on the
other hand, have generally been discussed when allegori-
cal figures or attributes other than the horse are found in
an equestrian portrait of a ruler,3 or when the sitter is a
less elevated figure (socially, if not physically). One has not encouraged appreciation of the richness of mean-
might expect a king to commission an equestrian portrait
or monument at almost any time, but an equestrian por-
trait of someone like the Duke of Buckingham or the
Count-Duke Olivares is expected to be a more occasional
piece, a sign of royal favour at a particular moment or
the commemoration of some special achievement.4
1 There is no survey of equestrian portraits comparable to those of equestrian
monuments, but relevant information may be found in HJALMAR FRIIS: Rytter-
statuens: Historie i Europa fra Oldtijden indtil Thorvaldsen, Copenhagen [1933];
OTTO GROSSMANN: Das Reiterbild in Malerei und Plastik, Berlin [1931]; and H.
JANSON: 'The Equestrian Monument from Cangrande della Scala to Peter the
Great', in A. R. LEWIS, ed.: Aspects of the Renaissance, Austin and London [1967],
pp.73-85.
2 On the iconographic relationship of these images to equestrian portraits, see
ULRICH KELLER: Reitermonumente absolutistischer Fiirsten (Miinchener Kunsthistorische
Abhandlungen, II), Munich and Ziirich [1971]; H. LUTZELER: 'Zur Ikonologie
des Pferdes in der barocken Kunst' Festschrift fur Karl Lohmeyer, Saarbrficken
[1954], pp.118-24; and ERWIN PANOFSKY: Problems in Titian, Mostly Iconographic,
New York [1969], pp.82-87.
3 On such an equestrian portrait of Philip IV by Rubens, see FRAN~ES HUEMER:
Portraits I (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XIX), Brussels [1977],
pp.72-78, 150-54, Fig.91; L. L1X--: 'Two seventeenth-century poems which
link Rubens' equestrian portrait of Philip IV to Titian's equestrian portrait of
Charles V', Gazette des Beaux-Arts LXXV [1970], pp.345-54; M. C. VOLK: 'Rubens
Thus the equestrian portraits of Olivares have been
associated by several scholars with the battle of Fuenter-
rabia, a victory of the Spanish over the French in the
autumn of 1638 that was credited to Olivares's long,
exhausting preoccupation with its strategy.s There is
much to recommend this hypothesis (even though Oli-
vares never appeared on the field), and the present writ-
ers would not wish to dismiss it or a dating of the Prado
picture to late 1638 or 1639 from further consideration.
At the same time, however, it should be observed that no
documentary evidence is at present known that relates
the painting to this event, that some scholars have com-
pared the painting to other images in support of an ear-
lier date, and that, whether or not the battle of Fuenter-
rabia is relevant, its frequent mention in the literature
ing such a picture would have had for Olivares himself
and for educated viewers of his time. Both the general
and the specific readings of equestrian portraits men-
tioned above are too simple for an age that, especially at
the courts, took pride and pleasure in the perception of
layers and shades of significance.
While the great equestrian portrait of Olivares in the
Prado and directly related works represent the only
known composition by Velizquez portraying Olivares on
horseback, this is hardly an isolated instance of their
forthcoming article. See also HUEMER, pp.57-61, and j. HELD: 'Rubens's Sketch
of Buckingham Rediscovered', THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXVIII [1976],
pp.547-51.

in Madrid and the decoration of the Sal6n Nuevo in the Palace', THEI
BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXXII [1980], pp.168-80 (p.171).
' In this respect the most important precedent for Velazquez's Olivares
(Fig.34) is Rubens's Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma of 1603. The
literature on this work (summarised by HUEMER, op. cit., pp. 21-25) associates it
with the Duke's exceptional power and 'imperial pretensions', as well as more
-particular meanings. Frances Robb discussed the special significance of
Rubens's Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Buckingham at the 1980 annual
meeting of the College Art Association, and will treat the subject in a
s See note 30 for the scholars who support this view and the consequent da
to c. 1638-39. GREGORIO MARAN6N: El Conde-Duque de Olivares, Madrid [1
(6th ed.; 1st ed., Buenos Aires [1939]), pp.57, 67, 84, 104, on Olivares's r6le
this event. Marafi6n's book was translated as Olivares, der Niedergang Span
als Weltmacht, and given a long introduction by Ludwig Pfandl, Munich [19
The Prado picture (Fig.34) remained in the family of Olivares until it w
acquired by the Marques de la Ensenada. At the sale of his collection in 176
was bought by Charles III, and is found in inventories of the Palacio Real
until it passed to the Prado in 1819.

529

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 @

34. Equest
35. E
cm. (Mu
(Met

S VU'GA ISIA -V C AVGV

37. Otho, from the Twelve Caesars, by Stradanus c. 1590. (Metropolitan

36. Julius Caesar, from the Twelve Caesars, by Antonio Tempesta. 1596. (Met-
ropolitan Museum of Art New York) Museum of Art, New York).

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 VELAZQUEZ, OLIVARES, AND THE BAROQUE EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT

common interest in equestrian portraiture.6

Monument ofItPhilip is not
IV (Fig.38) by Pietro Tacca could be
known if Olivares, as part of his regular diversion
described and
as the final and most public part of this prog-
flattery of Philip IV with ceremonies, ramme of royal equestrian imagery. In letters dating
entertainments
and lavish living, had much to say about
from the equestrian
the spring of 1634 to the autumn of 1636 Olivares
portraits that decorated the Sal6n Nuevo
gave the incommission
the Royal and specific instructions on the
design
Palace (Alcfizar) during the mid- to late of the monument,
1620s, although which was finished in 1640 but
the one of Philip IV painted by Rubens onlyin set1628 (which
up outside the Buen Retiro in the autumn of
1642.12 two or three
replaced another by Velizquez dating from
years earlier) represents the King as Olivares
an aggressive
appears in Maino's Recapture of Bahia,13 but
an equestrian portrait of Olivares was not part of the
defender of the Faith,7 a rle the Count-Duke strongly
urged as part of his foreign policy, and programme
the programme
and indeed could
as not be fitted in, despite the
Count-Duke's
a whole has been related to the 'reassertion ambition, and his close association wit~h
of imperial
the King
policy by the energetic Olivares'.8 Olivares was and the Prince in other official imagery.14 It
certainly
responsible for the programme of equestrian
seems likely, portraits
however, that the thought given by Olivares
and battle scenes that was planned abouttofive
the equestrian portraits of the Sal6n de Reinos and to
years later
to decorate the Sal6n de Reinos of the Buen Retiro.9 This Tacca's statue in some way led to the commission of
palace, a magnificent gift to Philip IV, was still Velizquez's Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School
unfinished in October, 1632, when Olivares, besieged by (Fig.44). Enriqueta Harris has discussed the meaning of
nearly universal blame for the financial and other disas- this large and unusual work, and persuasively suggested
ters suffered by Spain and even for the recent death of the that it was painted for Olivares and dates from around
Infante Don Carlos, saw fit to present it to the King.'0 the end of 1636.'s Michael Levey earlier identified the
Velizquez supervised the decoration of the Sal6n de setting as the grounds of the Buen Retiro palace, and
Reinos, which was completed by the spring of 1635. It discussed the role of Olivares (far right) and the King
included twelve great battle scenes along the side walls, and the Queen on the balcony.'6 It has often been
one of which was Velizquez's Surrender of Breda ('Las observed that 'the pose of the horse repeats exactly that
of the animal in the equestrian portrait of Philip III' (the
Lanzas'), a series of canvases by Zurbarin representing
the Labours of Hercules, the equestrian portraits of one mentioned above),'7 which is essentially the same
Philip III, Margarita of Austria and Isabella of Bourbon pose (A levade) found in Velizquez's Philip IV (Fig.40),
that were evidently painted in 1625 by other Spanish Tacca's monument (Fig.38), and the equestrian portraits
artists for the Salon Nuevo and now revised by Veliz- of Olivares (Figs.34 and 35).1s
quez, and his new equestrian portraits of Philip IV There is, finally, another case of equestrian portraiture
(Fig.40) and Prince Baltasar Carlos."* The Equestrian involving Olivares and Velizquez that has not, to our
knowledge, been cited in this context before.'9 Alessan-
dro Striggi, the ambassador of the Mantuan court in
6 JOSE LOPEZ-REY: Veldzquez's Work and World, A Catalogue Raisonne of his Oeuvre, Madrid, mentioned in a detailed letter (dated 24th
London [1963], Cat. 211-18 for equestrian portraits of Olivares. As discussed in
any account of Velizquez's life, the prime minister was responsible for bring-
March 1627) about an advantageous marriage and his
ing the artist to Madrid from Seville in 1623, and in good part (until tpie own flattery of Olivares, that he had 'had made by the
Count-Duke's disgrace in 1643) for his rise at court. A good, short survey of most famous painter of these parts the two portraits on
Olivares's career and his role as Vahizquez's patron is found in VLADIMIR
KEMENOV: Velazquez in Soviet Museums, Leningrad [1977], pp.61-87 (chapter
on portraits of Olivares). See also E. LAFUENTE FERRARI: 'Vehizquez y los
retratos del Conde-duque de Olivares', Goya [1960], no.37-38, pp. 64-73.
See the literature cited in n. 3, and E. HARRIS: 'Cassiano dal Pozzo on Diego by CAMON AZNAR, op. cit., I, pp.522-34, and seconded by Jost GUDIOL: Veldzquez,
Velazquez', THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXII [1970], pp.364-73 (pp.368-71). New York [1974], p.147. The apparent dependence of Rubens's Philip IV of
8 YOLK, op. cit., p. 176, and the recent literature on Olivares cited therein. 1628 (see n. 3) on the Philip III would seem to support this view of the
9 On this project see jose CAM6N AZNAR: Veldzquez, Madrid [1964], I, pp.4-87; authorship, date, and original placement of the three equestrian portraits.
L6PEZ-REY, Op. cit., pp.53-62; and M. WARNKE: 'Das Reiterbild des Baltasar Cam6n Aznar attributes the initial work on the Philip III to Gonzailez, on the
Margarita of Austria to Carducho, and on the Isabella of Bourbon to Caxes.
Carlos von Vehlzquez', Amici Amico: Festschrift fair Werner Gross ..... Munich 12 See CAMON AZNAR, op. cit., I, pp.482-84 (ill. p.484), and MICHAEL LEVEY:
[1968], pp.217-27 (pp.217-22). Still important is the long study of E. TORMO:
'Velazquez, el Sal6n de Reinos del Buen Retiro, y el Poeta del Palacio y del Painting at Court, New York [1971], p.142, Fig. 118, for the statue in its original
location. The work is also discussed in ILSE DAHL: Das Barocke Reitermonument,
Pintor', Boletin de la Sociedad de Excursiones XIX [1911], reprinted in Tormo's
Pintura, Escultura y Arquitectura en Espana, Madrid [1949]. A new study Duisseldorf [1935], pp.43-46; FRIIS, op. cit., pp.215-19; ELSE LEWY: Pietro Tacca,
unavailable to the authors is that of JONATHAN BROWN and J. H. ELLIOTT: A Cologne [1928], pp.77-80; RUDOLF WITTKOWER: Art and Architecture in Italy
Palace for a King: The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV, New Haven [1980]. 1600-1750, Baltimore [1965], p.87, and in a forthcoming book by W. LIEDTKE:
10 MARAr6N, op. cit., German ed., pp.118-20. Equestrian Portraits of the Baroque.
1 Literature on these paintings is cited in WARNKE, op. cit., n.1-7. On the 13 On this work (Prado, no.885) and Olivares's place in it, see L6PEZ-REY, op.
equestrian portraits of Philip III and the two queens, see the other sourcescit., pp. 56-57, 197, and especially LEO STEINBERG'S review of this book in Art
cited in n.9 above, and M. SORIA: 'Las Lanzas y los Retratos Ecuestres de Bulletin XLVII [1965], pp. 274-94 (pp. 289-91).
Velizquez', Archivo Espadol de Arte XXVII [1954], pp.93-108. SORIA, pp.105-7,14 See Steinberg's argument (loc. cit.) and, for an example of such imagery,
dismisses Tormo's argument that such fine compositions must have originatedKEMENOV, op. cit., p.74, Fig.47 (title page of 1640).
with Velizquez by pointing out their dependence on the prints of Stradanus,15 E. HARRIS: 'Velizquez's Portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding
and supports the opinions of Villaamil, Justi and Beruete pare that the three School', THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXVIII [1976], pp.266-75. HARRIS, p.271,
paintings 'were begun (and perhaps finished) by Bartolome Gonzilez', whoconcludes that the painting does not 'appear to be related to any particular
occasion; very probably it was intended as a record of the Prince's great
died in 1627. SORIA, p.107, adds the names of Beroqui, Lafuente Ferrari,
enthusiasm for "las lanzas" ' (tilting with a lance), and of Olivares's role as
Trapier and E. Harris to those scholars who feel that 'the Philip III and the two
Queens were painted before 1627 by Gonz~ilez, and were retouched by Veliz-Master of the Horse and the boy's mentor (p.272).
16 LEVEY, op. cit., pp.142-44.
quez between 1631 and 1634 (and perhaps also in 1628).' Documents pub-
17 FRANCIS WATSON: Wallace Collection Catalogues. Pictures and Drawings, London
lished by Azc~irate now seem to confirm that Gonz~ilez, Vincente Carducho
and Eugenio Caxes painted the three equestrian portraits in 1625 for the Sal6n[1968], p.332.
18 This pose is discussed in the text below.
Nuevo of the Alc~izar: J. M. DE AZCARATE: 'Noticias sobre Velizquez. en la
19 However, CAM6N AZNAR, op. cit., p.463, refers to a possible antecedent
corte', Archivo Espariol de Arte XXXIII [1960], pp.360-62. This interpretation
(the document gives the size but not the subject of the pictures) was advancedlost, in Mantua in 1627 (no reference is made to the source cited here in

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 VELAZQUEZ, OLIVARES, AND THE BAROQUE EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT
horseback, the one of His Majesty, the other of the ticular event.'31 L6pez-Rey dates the painting to 'about
Count-Duke, that shall be enclosed here' (included in the 1634-35' because he sees it in this light as a portrait of
same post).20 Receipt of the portraits was acknowledged 'Olivares as the maker of the monarchys military vic-
in Mantua on 22nd May.21 Evidently they were small tories' and observes that Olivares was seen in this r6le 'at
(ritrattini) and are now lost.22 the Court by 1635, when it found pictorial expression in
Striggi's order may be placed in perspective by consid- Maino's painting for the Hall of Realms' (Sal6n de
ering the following points. However one reads the relev- Reinos).32 He also sees the canvas as close in execution
ant documents, it seems certain that by this date the to the equestrian portraits of the King (Fig.40) and the
large equestrian portraits of Philip III, Margarita of Prince in the same place.
Austria and Isabella of Bourbon were already finished Other scholars have placed the portrait slightly earlier
(although they were to be revised by Velizquez around by comparing it to another battle scene painted for the
1634).23 Velizquez had completed a famous but now lost Salon de Reinos, Jusepe Leonardo's Taking of Breisach
Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV in 1625, a work that was (Fig.45). In their view, Leonardo copied the pose of Vel-
evidently conceived as a pendant to Titian's Charles V at Aizquez's horse. Camon Aznar further advances as an
Miihlberg,24 and for which he was awarded an annuity of 'incontrovertible argument' his view that an engraving of
three hundred ducats (requiring a papal dispensation in Olivares on horseback published in Juan Mateos's Origen
1626).25 Other royal equestrian portraits probably y dignidad de la caza of 1634 (Fig.47) was inspired by
existed by 1627, and it is worth mentioning that the Velizquez's portrait,33 and Gudiol goes so far as to
equestrian monument of Philip III by Giovanni Bologna describe the book illustration as 'an engraving of it'.34
and Tacca was set up in Madrid in 1617.26 We do not Lafuente Ferrari, by contrast, suggested that Velizquez
know if Olivares was aware that Rubens had painted a may have adopted the pose of Olivares's horse from the
great equestrian portrait of the Count-Duke's predeces- painting by Jusepe Leonardo.3s
sor, the Duke of Lerma, in 1603, or that the Duke of These arguments fail to recognise how common the
Buckingham had recently commissioned an equestrian pose of the horse and rider found in these images was in
portrait from the same artist.27 But numerous engrav- equestrian portraits, both painted and engraved, by the
ings, including Willem de Passe's Equestrian Portrait of the 1620s and 1630s, and neglect the valuable lead offered by
Duke of Buckingham as Lord High Admiral (1625),28 and Martin Soria when he compared all of the equestrian
Striggi's letter itself indicate that in any case there would portraits in the Sal6n de Reinos programme and that of
have been nothing exceptional about an order to paint an Olivares to engravings of the Twelve Emperors (c. 1590) by
equestrian portrait of a man of Olivares's rank in 1627 Jan van der Straet (Stradanus). 36 Recent scholarship has
(and indeed, as a pendant to an equestrian portrait of the shown how frequently Spanish artists, whatever their
King). Finally, the equestrian portraits of Olivares and
stature, turned to Flemish and Italian engravings for
Philip IV by Gaspar de Crayer may have been a similarmodels; and common sources for the equestrian por-
commission of the Marquis de Leganes, and probably trait of Olivares, the battle scene by Jusepe Leonardo,
date from about the same time.29
and other pictures (for all we know, these might include
All of these considerations concerning equestrian por-
the portrait of Olivares commissioned by Striggi in 1627)
traits at the Spanish court and Olivares's interest in
are a much more likely explanation of the similarities
them tend to support the view of those scholars who see
observed in these paintings and in the engraving in
no necessary connection between the Prado portrait
Mateos's book than the more direct relationships that
(Fig.34) and the battle of Fuenterrabia.3? L6pez-Rey
cogently adds that 'as for the military action depicted
(Fig.41), no specific one was probably intended; indeed,
RARI, op. cit., p.71, is 'inclined' to follow this dating to (late) 1638, and cites J
the battle scene would have been the more expressiveLeonardo's
of Taking of Brisack (Fig.45) as a terminus ante quem (see text following)
Olivares's power and success for not referring to a par-
In placing the picture in a dependent relationship to Leonardo's, Lafuente and
others follow CARL JUSTI: Diego Veldzquez and his Times, London [1889]
p.314. E. HARRIS: 'Spanish Painting from Morales to Goya in the Nationa
Gallery of Scotland', THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE XCIII [1951], pp.310-17
(p.314), relates both the Madrid and New York portraits (Figs.34 and 35) to
2o Varia Velazqueria, Madrid (Ministerio de Educaci6n Nacional) [1960], II,
the battle of Fuenterrabia with 'no doubt', but no concrete evidence either.
p.226, no.31. The painter is certainly Vehizquez, who is named in the follow-
ing lines. Both the 'evidence' of Olivares's apparent age and the supposed similarity of
21 Ibid., p.227, no.33.
the background to the actual topography of the battlefield (Fig.42) are
22 L6PEZ-REY, op. cit., Cat. 191 and 215 (both 46 by 39 cm) could possibly inconclusive. HARRIS, op. cit. (at note 15 above), p.272, mentions 1638 again.
record this or a similar pair of paintings. HALLDOR SOEHNER, Gemdldekataloge, I. Spanische Meister, Munich (Alte
2 See n. l 1. Pinakothek) [1963], pp.101-2, tentatively follows the identification of the setting
24 See most recently VOLK, op. cit., p.172. and the date of 1638, and suggests that contemporary copies of the Prado
25 L6PEZ-REY, op. cit., Cat. 186 (p.187). picture would date between 1638 and Olivares's fall in 1643.
26 ELIZABETH DHANENS: Jean Boulogne, Brussels [1956], pp.297 ft; FRIIS, op. cit., 31 L6PEZ-REY, op. cit., p.63. See also p.197.
pp.212-14. 32 Ibid., p.63.
27 See n.4.
33 CA6N AZNAR, op. cit., I, p.466 (ill. on p.260). Others who maintain that
28 HUEMER, op. cit., pp.57-58, Fig.33. HUEMER mentions the equestrian portraits
Leonardo copied Vehlzquez and therefore date the portrait to around 1633-34
of English noblemen engraved a generation earlier by Thomas Cockson; see A.
M. HIND: Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, and
include:
Partn.86;
I
KURT GERSTENBERG: Diego Veldzquez, Munich and Berlin [1957], p.101
GEORGE KUBLER and MARTIN SORIA: Art and Architecture in Spain and
(Tudor Period), Cambridge [ 1955], pp.239 ft.
Portugal
29 HANS VLIEGHE: Gaspar de Crayer, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Brussels [1972], p.44; Cat. and their American Dominions, Baltimore [1959], p.385, n.37; Museo del
Prado, Catdlogo de las Pinturas, Madrid [1972], p.734, no.1181. See also SORIA
A253, A254, A256, A257; Figs.229-32. On this distinguished amateur, see op. M.cit.,
C. (n.11), pp.98-99.
YOLK: 'New Light on a Seventeenth-Century Collector: The Marquis of
34 GUDIOL, op. cit. p.144.
Leganes', Art Bulletin LXII [1980], pp.256-68. 35 ENRIQUE LAFUENTE FERRARI: Veldequez, Complete Edition, London and New
30 L6PEZ-REY, op. cit., p.63, n. 1, cites Cruzada Villaamil, Lafuente Ferrari (see
York [1943], p.22, no.LXIII.
n.35), Marafi6n and Trapier as scholars who do relate the painting to the
36SORIA, op. cit. (at note 11 above), pp.98-99, suggests Stradanus's Otho
battle of Fuenterrabia; on p.197 Cruzada is cited as the first. LAFUENTE FER-
(Fig.37) as a source.

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 VELAZQUEZ, OLIVARES, AND THE BAROQUE EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT
have been proposed.37 The Julius Caesar that Stradanus's
to celebrate Olivares's responsibility for the victory at
Florentine pupil, Antonio Tempesta, included Fuenterrabia
in his own one might expect one or more of them to
Twelve Caesars of 1596 (Fig.36) could havegive served well
some indication that this was the case. None does.
enough for the Velizquez (Fig.34), the Jusepe The Striggi
Leonardoletter and many other contemporary
(Fig.45), and the portrait of Olivares in Mateos's book.
accounts remind us that portraits and copies of portraits
The differences, like the turn of the sitter'swere head or the exchanged between courts and presented
frequently
different position of the marshal's batontoin the book
favourite members of the nobility. The Striggi letter
illustration, are conventions found in many alsocontempor-
indicates, as discussed above, that no special occa-
ary Spanish paintings, while the hilltop setting, sion need
the explain
dis- a portrait of Olivares on horseback -
tant battlefield, and the position of the horse not, atandleast,rider
once he was appointed General de la Cabal-
(which helps to relate the foreground andleria background)
de Espafia in 1625.42
are found in Stradanus's Otho Fig.37) and a then widely
This does not mean, however, that an equestrian por-
known but now rarely mentioned source,trait Stradanus's
of Olivares would refer only to his title of General or
series of engravings entitled Mediceae Familiae... Master of the Horse. The equestrian portrait was a form
victoriae
et triumphi of 1583 (e.g., Fig.48). One can readily rich inappreci-
historical associations, and in the seventeenth
ate that the Medici victories would have been of interest century the sitter's horsemanship alone - that is, his abil-
to the artists painting battle scenes in the Sal6n ityde to ride well - could in both a literal and a meta-
Reinos, quite as the Twelve Caesars of Stradanus and phorical way say much about his station and character.
Tempesta were appropriate models for the royal eques- In the broadest view, we can distinguish three domin-
trian portraits that hung in the same hall. ant themes in equestrian portraiture from c. 1550 to c.
The evidence at present available for a dating of 1650, the which may be described as imperial, Christian,
equestrian portrait of Olivares (Fig.34) is all circumstan-
and rulership themes. In other words, the rider is seen as
tial, and the chronology of Velizquez's work is notori- a monarch reminiscent of Constantine (the mistaken
ously difficult to establish on the basis of style.38 Withidentity then assigned to the most famous equestrian
these reservations understood, the portrait would appear statue of antiquity, the Marcus Aurelius in Rome) or
in our view to date most probably from around 1636.another Its emperor, as a Christian knight, or as, among
style and the apparent age of the sitter support this other things (e.g. courtier, commander, king), an
accomplished horseman who thereby demonstrates an
view,39 and the hypothesis that the picture, like the Prince
ability to rule.43
Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School (Fig.44), was inspired
by the Sal6n de Reinos paintings (e.g., Fig.40), was As one might expect, these themes (especially the first
probably commissioned by Olivares himself, and cele- and the third) may merge in one image, and other mean-
brates, among other things, his reputation as 'the best ings, including a particular reference to the sitter (e.g.,
horseman in all of Spain',40 is more persuasive than any his title, his horsemanship) or an event (e.g., a victory
other. like that at Fuenterrabia), may combine with or form an
The question of the portrait's meaning is raised not
only by its imposing size and quality and by the debated
questions of commission and date, but by the fact that a
painting is 'a variant.., painted for a less formal purpose.' JUsTI, op. cit. (at
fair number of replicas or copies seem to date from note 30 above), p.315, also considered the work to be an autograph replica, a
around the late thirties.41 If these were made specifically view adopted by GERSTENBERG, op. cit. (at note 33 above), p.102, and GUDIOL,
op. cit. (at note 11 above), p.144.
A. L. MAYER: Veldzquez, A Catalogue Raisonni of the Pictures and Drawings,
London [1936], p.74, no.313, considered the painting to be a characteristic
work by Velizquez's pupil and son-in-law, Juan Bautista del Mazo. LAFUENTE
3' See c. PEMAN: 'Miscelinea Zurbaranesca', Archivo Esparol de Arte XXXVII
[1964], pp.93-98, and M. L. CATURLA: 'Otros dos cesares a caballo zurbaranes- FERRARI, op. cit. (at note 6 above), p.72, presents the most detailed argument
cos', idem, XXXVIII [1965], pp. 197-201, on more borrowings from the Twelve concerning style in support of this attribution. Several of his points about weak
Caesars by Stradanus and Tempesta. On printed sources of Velizquez's Surren- or superficial qualities of technique deserve serious consideration, but whether
der of Breda, see J. M. BROWN: 'On the origins of "Las Lanzas" by Velizques', these support an attribution to Mazo, by whom very few certain works are
known, is open to question. L6PEZ-REY, op. cit. (at note 6 above), p.199 (Cat.
Zeitschriftfur Kunstgeschichte XXVII [1964], pp.240-45; J. F. O'GORMAN: 'More
216), also discusses qualities 'characteristic of Mazo'. cAM6N AZNAR, op. cit. (at
about Velizquez and Alciati', idem, XXVIII [1965], pp.225-28; and c. GOTT-I
LIEB: 'An emblematic source for Velazquez ' "Surrender of Breda" ', Gazette note 9 above), I, p.473, and SOEHNER, op. cit. (at note 30 above), p.102, support
this attribution.
des Beaux-Arts LXVII [1966], pp.181-86. For Velizquez's reference to a series
of prints by Goltzius, see M. M. KAHR: 'Velizquez's Las Hilanderas: A New The only author to suggest that the painting may be from Velizquez's
Interpretation', Art Bulletin LXII [1980], pp.376-85. studio and partly by him is evidently BERNARDINO DE PANTORBA (J. L6pez
38 See STEINBERG, op. cit. (at note 13 above), pp.286-88, on this point. Jimenez), La viday la obra de Veldzquez, Madrid [1955], pp.230 if, no.162. Given
3 On the apparent age of Olivares in the later portraits by Velizquez, see the arguments for both Velazquez and Mazo, the possibility that they were
KEMENOV, op. cit. (at note 6 above), pp.76 ft. In the years around 1640 the both involved (or of some other collaborative effort in Velizquez's studio)
Count-Duke aged considerably. should be entertained when a greater knowledge of the candidates and a direct
40 CARL JUSTI: Veldzquezy su Siglo, Madrid [1953], p.215, recorded this observa- confrontation of the relevant works open this avenue of investigation.
tion of a French visitor to the Spanish court. 42 The first portrait of Olivares known today, the full-length portrait of 1624 in
41 L6PEZ-REY, op. cit. (at note 6 above), Cat. 212-18. See note 30 for Soehner's Sao Paulo, features the golden spurs of the Master of the Horse at his waist. In
observation on the dating of contemporary versions and on the Munich copy the portrait of 1625 in the Hispanic Society, New York, the same office is
of the painting in New York (Fig.35). The authorship of the latter has been the indicated by the prominent riding crop. The version of the latter picture in the
Pushkin Museum, Moscow, is probably a studio work of approximately the
subject of considerable debate. ELLIS WATERHOUSE: Catalogue of. .. Spanish
Paintings, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh [1951] (exhib. cat.), pp.27 if, same date as the Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School (Fig. 11, where
no.37, stated that the recent cleaning had made the authenticity of the Olivares appears similarly) and, in our view, the equestrian portraits of
painting (then in the collection of the tenth Earl of Elgin) more demonstrable, Olivares. This information from KEMENOV, op. cit. (at note 6 above), pp.72-74,
and considered it a modello for the Prado picture (Fig.34). SORIA, op. cit. (at note Fig.27-31. JusTI, op. cit. (at note 40 above), p.450, in reference to this title of
11 above), p.98, followed this view ('boceto'). HARRIS, op. cit. (at note 30 above), Olivares, cites FRANZ CHRISTOPH KHEVENHILLER: Annales Ferdinandei, Leipzig
p.31 4, agreed that the cleaning restored the work to the euvre of Velizquez, but [1724], X, col.1033.
sensibly argued that there is 'no evidence that Velizquez ever painted models, 43 These themes will be discussed at greater length in LIEDTKE, op. cit. See also
and in any case the picture is surely too large in scale'. She concluded that the JANSON, op. cit. and PANOFSKY, op. cit.

532

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 _i

38. Equestrian Monum

1634-40.39. Plate
(Plaza 15,
de An
Ori
(Metropolitan

41. Detail o

40. Equestrian Portrait

cm. (Museo del Prado

t* ANDR!AE ALCIAT~

Scl tE Capth Adomms rotesC Cr7he/f I ora74

44. Prince Baltasar Carlos in th

42. Sitio y 43. In Adulari Nescientem, from Andrea Alciati's
Socorro de Fu
Juan de Palafox
'Emblemata' Antwerp, by Velazquez.
1581. 207.5
y
(Metropoli- by 14
M
tan Museum Grosvenor
of Art, New York). Estate).
America, New York).

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 45. The Taking of Breisach, by Jusepe Leonardo. 1634. (Museo del Prado, Madrid).
46. The White Horse, by Velzquez. (Palacio Real, Mad

.. .. . il .. . . ..... .. ........K ., 1

47. Frontispiece of 'Originy dignidad de la Caza' by Juan Mateos. 1634. (The Hispanic Society of America, New 48. The Battle of Marignano, from 'Mediceae. .. victoriae
York). (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

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 VELAZQUEZ, OLIVARES, AND THE BAROQUE EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT
exception to a more common reading. The equestrian 1615.s' The horse does not know how to flatter his
portraits painted at the Spanish court by Rubens, Veliz-
master: 'he treats all alike; he will throw anyone but he
quez and others, and described in contemporary who truly knows how to rule and govern him in a firm
accounts like the poems of Zfirate and Lope de Vega,44
and decisive manner.' Since antiquity, Lopez reflects,
reveal that these themes and their various implications
philosophers have stressed the importance of learning to
were quite familiar to the patrons and the painters. But
ride well, but riding masters tend to flatter their royal
in the case of Olivares, despite the Count-Duke's actual
pupils before they know how to control the horse. The
control of the government and his policy of militant
author makes the same point again and again: the horse
Catholicism, the imperial and the Christian themes respects the rider not out of any regard for his rank but
could not be addressed in a very obvious way without for his ability, so 'the Prince must learn this fundamental
deflecting glory from the King to his favourite, and art of equitation, or he will be judged unworthy to
indeed, glory that the latter, a shrewd propagandist, was
rule ...'.s2
constantly at pains to attribute to his sovereign. The This advice about what we still call the 'reins of gov-
theme of rulership, however, and specifically the refer- ernment' would clearly have appealed to Olivares and
ence to an ability to rule or command, was not so Philip IV, and was adopted, occasionally with specific
restricted to the monarch himself by the symbolic forms reference to the King, by literary figures of the time.
and common interpretations of them that date from the These include, as might be expected, writers on the art of
period. Current as these were at the time, they deservefine
a horsemanship. Bernardo de Vargas Machuca, a
more detailed discussion here because the rulership pioneer of haute ?cole riding in Spain, observed in the
theme is much less familiar today than the imperial introduction
and of his Teoria y Exercicios de la jineta (Madrid,
Christian themes, and because it is evidently addressed
1619) that 'Great princes of all nations have treasured
in the equestrian portraits of Olivares. the name of Philip as a friend of the horse' and then went
The image of a rider mastering a horse was popular-
on to record the widely held view that:
ised as a symbol of rulership by Alciati in his famous 'The highest one can say of a Prince is this, that he
Emblemata of 1531.45 The horse was a common renais-rides well, a phrase which embraces his virtue and
sance symbol of 'unbridled passion';46 the bridle, an bravery... For as one spurs on a horse and leads it
attribute of Temperance,47 is frequently featured inwhere he wants, so shall the rider lead the people
sixteenth-century emblem books.48 Alciati, whose work according to his will.'s3
was well known in Spain,49 illustrates a rider on a rear- The same line of thought was repeated by Francisco de
ing horse under the title In Adulari Nescientem (Fig.43).so
Z~irate in a poem that, like another by Lope de Vega,
The meaning of this image and title, 'To him unableexpounds
to upon the allegorical meaning of an equestrian
flatter,' is explained by Alciati's verse, and commented
portrait of Philip IV painted by Rubens in 1628.54 For
upon extensively by Diego Lopez in his influential the most part the painting and the poems adhere to what
Declaracidn Magistral sobre las emblemas de Andrts Alciato of we have described as the imperial and the Christian
themes (especially the latter), but Z~irate also identifies
Philip's horse as representing the people under his rule.
Philip controls the horse, according to the poet's imag-
ery, 'more than if he should fix him among the stars'.
44 Reprinted in full in LIGO, op. cit. (at note 3 above).
4s On the many editions of ALCIATI'S Emblemata see GEORGE DUPLESSIS: Les
Emblkmes d'Alciat, Paris [1884], and HENRY GREEN: A. Alciati and his Book of
Emblems, London [1872]. ARTHUR HENKEL and ALBRECHT SCHONE: Emblemata,
Stuttgart [1967], col. 497-508, 1069-72, was especially useful for the following
information.
46 PANOFSKY, op. cit., pp. 118-19; EDGAR WIND: Pagan Mysteries of the Renaissance, s5 On this book see A. SANCHEZ PEREZ: La Literatura Emblemdtica Espanola, Mad-
London [1958], pp.145-47; GEORGE FERGUSON: Signs and Symbols in Christian Art rid [1977], pp.67 ff.
London, etc. [1976], p.20. On the horse on the sarcophagus in Titian's Sacred and s2 Variations on this theme are found in the emblems collected from several
Profane Love, see E. FRY: 'In Detail: Titian's Sacred and Profane Love', Portfolio I sources by HENKEL and SCHONE, op. cit. col. 497-98, 503-8, 1069-70. See also
[1979], no.4, pp.34-39 (p.39). Fry interprets the meaning of the horse as WARNKE, op. cit. pp. 221-22. Alciati's emblem (Fig.43) was taken over by
deriving from but not conforming to the usual renaissance signification: 'this GEOFFREY WHITNEY: A Choice of Emblems, Leiden [1586], p.38. Two emblems
horse stands for chaste but ardent desire. Led by a figure holding its streaming cited by Henkel and Sch6ne from COVARRUBIAS'S Emblemas Morales [1610] are
mane, this steed advances to meet a second, partially obscured figure who will worth mentioning here. No.14, Parce Puer Stimulis, compares a young prince to
tether it safely to the ribbons on the Aurelio coat of arms: a symbolic act of the colt he reins in. Both are high-spirited, the verse explains, and need a
marriage...' For a similar interpretation of the horses in Rubens's Rape of the bridle but no spurs to achieve discipline. Seneca is invoked, and the title is
Daughters of Leucippus, see S. ALPERS: 'Manner and Meaning in some Rubens lifted from Ovid. No.49, Solus Nescit Adulari, illustrates a rider thrown from a
Mythologies',Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes XXX [1967], p.288. horse racing over rough terrain. The verse and commentary concern flattery in
4 See GUY DE TERVARENT: Attributs et Symboles dans l'Art Profane, Geneva [1958], royal circles, and thus complement the meaning of Alciati's emblem (Fig.43).
I, col. 277, and C. RIPA: Iconologie, Paris [1644], pp.184, 187. Similar lines of thought were adopted from the emblem books by the authors
48 The bridle as a metaphor for control over one's passions occurs, for of treatises on horsemanship: see LEVEY, op. cit., p.142 on Newcastle; LOT-
example, in JOACHIM CAMERARIUS: Symbolorum et Emblematum, Niirnberg [1595], ZELER, op. cit., p.122 on Del Campe; ROY STRONG: Van Dyck: Charles I on
no.31 (HENKEL and SCHONE, op. cit., col. 498), and in ACHILLIS BOmHI: Horseback, London and New York [1972], pp.56-57 on Morgan. See also
Symolicarum Questionum .. ., Bologna [1555], no.115, 'semper libidini imperat Pacheco's comments on noble horses, cited in J. A. CEAN BERMUDEZ: 'Retrato
prudentia' (see J. B. BEDAUX in Antiek X [1975], p.40, Fig.27). In both of these del Conde-Duque de Olivares .. ', El Artista II [1836], p.97.
images the horse rears. s" Quoted in translation by WARNKE, op. cit., p.221. VARGAS (1557-1622) is best
49 K. L. SELIG: 'The Spanish Translations of Alciati's Emblemata', Modern Lan- known for his Miliciay Descripcidn de las Indias [1599], but published three books
guage Notes LXX [1955], pp.354-59. See also JULIAN GALLEGO: Visidny Symboles en
on riding, the other two being Libro de Ejercicio de la Jineta [1600] and Compendio
la Pintura Espatiola del Siglo de Oro, Madrid [1972], p.36. y Doctrina Nueva de la Jineta (dedicated to Philip IV), Madrid [1621]. See
50 ALOCKI [1550], p.42 (see HENKEL and SCHONE, op. cit., col. 1069). GALLEGO, ibid., Enciclopedia Universel Illustrada LXVII [1958], pp.11-12, and ENRIQUE OTERO
p.273, n. 116, cited this emblem in the first Spanish translation ofAlciati: BER- D' COSTA: 'Biograifica disertaci6n sobre el capitin don Bernardo de Vargas
NADINO DAZA PINCIANO: Los Emblemas de Alciato ..., Lyons [1549], no.106 on Machuca', Revista de las Indias XII, no.47 [Jan. - Mar. 1952], pp.49-79.
p.141. GOTTLIEB, op. cit., p.186, n.18, has already pointed out the formal
s4 LIGO, op. cit., p.350, for the poem and a translation. See also HUEMER, op. cit.,
similarity between this emblem and the Olivares (Fig. 1). Cat. 30, and VOLK, op. cit. (at note 3 above), pp.168-71.

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 VELAZQUEZ, OLIVARES, AND THE BAROQUE EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT
The horse should be admired for 'that motionless valour
royal . . ., published in Paris in 1623 (Fig.39).59
that you see content in obedient submission; admire the Velizquez himself must have been familiar with
strong discipline of his energy - do not doubt his wisdom,
Pluvinel's book (compare Figs.39 and 40),6o and in his
for he surrenders his fierce wrath to the bit. Rubens,position
in at court could have observed (and perhaps prac-
short, shows with a horse how you ought to be a vassal to fine riding as an everyday experience. The three
tised)
your Prince.'ss large paintings of horses, one chestnut, one white and
Z~irate, whose poem contains nothing particularly one grey, that were listed in the painter's estate at his
original, could count upon being understood because his should probably be considered as studies of both
death
readers were familiar with two areas of knowledge the that
animal and its position.61 The White Horse has evi-
are now obscure to most of us. These are, firstly, em-dently survived in a formerly repainted and now restored
blematic and allegorical literature - the poet's metaphor
canvas in the Royal Palace in Madrid (Fig.46). The pose
of horsemanship for rulership was by then a common- of the horse is very close to that in the portraits of Oli-
place - and secondly, the art of riding. Formal dressage
vares, and the white horse in the New York version was
was an important part of a proper education for any male
probably modelled on this apparently autograph work.62
member of courtly society, and contemporary accounts To sum up, the Equestrian Portrait of Olivares (Fig.34) is a
indicate that Olivares, Philip IV and the precocious little
typical example of the sophisticated art of court portrai-
Prince (Fig.44) took the art of riding very seriously.s6
ture during the baroque period. A conventional form is
They and almost anyone else at court would have given life by the realistic representation of the sitter, the
immediately recognised that the pose of the horse in the
Rubens, in the Equestrian Portrait of Philip III mentioned
above, and in Velizquez's portraits of Philip IV and
Olivares (Figs. 34, 35 and 40) was not rearing, but was a
levade, an air of haute tcole riding in which the horse bends
s See also HARRIS, op. cit. (at note 15 above), p.270 and Fig.5. Pluvinel, like
its haunches deeply (in a manner more similar to sittingVargas, was trained in Naples, and with Salomon de la Broue brought haute
or squatting than to the standing movement of rearing), &cole riding to France. He became the &cuyer of Henry IV and governor of the
Dauphin, who, as Louis XIII, gave him several important titles, including
holds the body at no more than a forty-five degree angle,
that of ambassador to Prince Maurits of the Netherlands. The importance of
tucks in the forelegs, holds the head straight and close to riding at the courts is reflected in the fact that riding masters like Pluvinel
the body, and maintains this position for as long as hisoften had other important responsibilities, and that the title of Master of the
strength and skill allow (usually about five seconds).57Horse was often a step on the way up to very high positions (e.g., for Olivares
and Buckingham). Pluvinel's treatise was published in Paris in 1625, 1627,
Zirate must have had this highly trained exercise in1629, and at other dates and places under the title L'instruction du roy en l'exercise
mind when he referred, in a manner that quite contrasts de monter & cheval.
to romantic and modern notions of a rearing horse, to the The similarity of the poses of horses in the prints by Stradanus and Tem-
pesta (e.g. Figs.36 and 37) to haute &cole airs must reflect their familiarity
'strong discipline' of Philip's mount, 'motionless . . . in with the riding schools of Naples and Florence. Stradanus worked in Naples in
obedient submission.' The contemporary critic, Filippo 1575 and in 1579-80, and very probably travelled in the entourage of Don Juan
Baldinucci, was also aware that the similar pose of the of Austria to Flanders in 1576-78. In 1581 Philips Galle published the Equile
Joannis Austriaci, a set of forty engravings after Stradanus that record the
horse (which, it will be recalled, was specified by Olh- 'Stable of Don Juan'. In this and the later Twelve Caesars series by Stradanus
vares) in Tacca's Equestrian Monument of Philip IV (Fig.38) and Tempesta there is no intention of presenting the poses of the horses as
could be described as 'something in between the courbette,haute &cole airs, but that they sometimes come close, evidently because of the
actual models available to the artists, made the prints especially useful for
pesade and levade, but more like a simple levade than any- painters and patrons at the Spanish court and elsewhere (Cockson, Rubens,
thing else'.ss The proper execution of these airs was etc): see LARS O. LARRSON: 'Antonio Tempesta och Ryttarportrittet under
1600-talet', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift XXXVII [1968], pp.34-42.
demonstrated by members of the French court and in 6o Two books on equitation are recorded in Velizquez's library: ALONSO MAR-
many cases by Philip IV's brother-in-law, Louis XIII, inTINEZ DE ESPINAR: Arte de Ballesteriay Monteria [1644], cited by HARRIS, op. cit.
the superb plates illustrating the best book on equitation (at note 15 above), p.271, n.21, referring to M. L. SERRANO in Varia Velazquenia
of the seventeenth century, Antoine de Pluvinel's Maneige (see note 20 above), I, pp.503-4; II, p.398. The other book is an Italian edition
of FEDEREDO GRISONE'S seminal Ordini di cavalcare, Naples [1550] ('Modo de
andar a caballo, en italiano'), listed in F. J. SANCHEZ CANT6N: 'La Libreria de
Velizquez' Homenaje ofrecido a Menindez Pidal (Misceldnea de Estudios Linguiisticos,
Literarios e Histdricos III), Madrid [1925], p.398, no.83.
ss Two emblems with related meanings are found in DIEGO DE SAAVEDRO 61 j. DE CONTRERAS L6PEZ DE AYALA (Marques de Lozoya): 'El "Caballo
FAJARDO: Idea de un Principe Politico Christiano ..., Munich [1640] (and Milan Blanco" de Velizquez', Varia Velazquefia (sup. cit.), I, pp.323-27; LOPEZ-REY, op.
[1642]). In no.21, 'Regit, et Corrigit, an illustration of a bridle and a bit accom-cit., Cat.220. If the lost paintings of the chestnut and grey horses represented
panies the discussion of the reins of governement held by a Prince ('las riendasthe animals in different positions, the three paintings together would perhaps
have resembled the studies of different positions found in the large Riding School
de su estado . .. un freno . . . que ... rige y . . . corrige'). No.38, Con Halago y con
Rigor, shows a young colt being petted by a hand that also holds a whip, and from Rubens's studio (formerly in Berlin): see G. GLUCK: 'Jugendwerke von
argues that a Prince's kindness to his people must be tempered by firmness. Rubens', Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhl'chsten Kaiserhauses
The significance of the whip here may be of interest for the portrait of Olivares XXXIII [1916], pp.3-30 (II. Die Frilhen Reiterbildnisse), Fig.15, and HELD, op.
in the Hispanic Society (see note 42). cit. (at note 4 above), pp.548-51.
s6 See the letter cited by HARRIS, op. cit. (at note 15 above), p.271 and n.20. 62 The motif of a white horse has a rich history as a Christian symbol, as
s' These and other airs of haute &cole riding will be further discussed in respect discussed in G. G. KING: 'The Rider on the White Horse', Art Bulletin V [1922],
to baroque equestrian portraits in LIEDTKE, op. cit., following FRIIS and espe- pp.3-9; J6RG TRAEGER: Der reitende Papst ..., Munich and Zuirich [1970]; H.
cially GROSSMANN. Grossmann's terms and definitions of haute &cole formsNICKEL: 'And Behold, A White Horse ...', Metropolitan Museum Journal, XII
(pp.24-25, P1. IV) vary slightly from those now employed at the Spanish [1977], pp.179-83. However, this is probably not significant for the equestrian
Riding School. The latter should be used as a standard for art historicalportrait of Olivares in the Metropolitan Museum (Fig.35). White horses were
literature, and may be found in the books of ALOIS PODHAJSKY (e.g. The White prized possessions in seventeenth-century Spain, as one learns, for example,
Stallions of Vienna, London [1963]) or in HANS HANDLER and ERICH LESSING: Das
from the boasting of the title figure in FRANISCO DE QUEVEDO: El Busc6n (The
Swindler): Michael Alpert, tr., Two Spanish Picaresque Novels, London [ 1969],
Schl'nste aus der Spanischen Hofreitschule, Vienna, etc. [1975], and other publica-
tions directly connected with the School. For Grossmann's 'Kurbette' read pp.184, 192 (also p.191 on riding well as a status symbol). Olivares,
levade. incidentally, was certainly familiar with Quevedo's work, and caused him to
spend four years in a subterranean cell (1639 to after the favourite's fall) for
s5
ed.:FILIPPO BALDINUCCI:
1681-1728), Notizie dei Professori del Disegno.. ., Florence [1846] (first
IV, pp.94-95. suspicion of having written a verse critical of the Count-Duke's policies.

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 VELAZQUEZ, OLIVARES, AND THE BAROQUE EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT

faithful description of his actual dress,63 the

occasion.1 The probable
purpose use
of the present note is to offer evidence,
of a live model for the horse (possibly a favourite
independent of Velizquez, of 'the
of when the Views were almost cer-
best horseman in all of Spain'), and the tainly striking
painted. immedi-
acy of the environment. A conventional meaning Those in favour of the-earlier
that dating have found support in
of Alciati's emblem and the many variations on this the knowledge that Velizquez stayed for a while in the Villa
theme - was similarly made more accessible by applying Medici during his first visit to Rome. According to Francisco
Pacheco, his father-in-law and first biographer, he chose to
to it the new standards of courtly riding, standards which move there from the Vatican Palace in the summer of 1630
the contemporary viewer could have brought to bear on because of its position in the 'highest and most airy part of
the portrait not only as an emblem of Olivares's author- Rome' and because there were 'most excellent antique statues
ity, but as an objective record of his skill in an aristocra-for him to copy' (the copies, if they were made, have never
tic pursuit and of the discipline, patience and pride come to light).2 On the other hand, the argument for the later
required to master it. At the same time the painting dating is strengthened by the fact that it was during his second
probably refers to the Count-Duke as a military leader, visit that Velizquez ordered copies of some of these statues.
but the modern reading that tends to restrict interpreta- Indeed, the chief purpose of this journey, according to his
tion to this, in the case of a sitter like Olivares, fails to friend Jusepe Martinez, was to look for works of art to decorate
recognise the more complex and more fundamental the royal palace in Madrid and in particular, and at his own
suggestion, to order moulds and casts of the most famous
meanings of baroque equestrian portraits. Much of what
sculptures in Rome.3 Among these were some of the Villa
Olivares was to Spain is summed up in this work, includ- Medici antiques: the Venus, the Wrestlers, the Running Niobid,
ing the fact, recognised by Olivares himself in his later possibly the Lions and most probably the Ariadne, known at the
years, that in the long run his abilities and achievements time as Cleopatra.4 This last, is of course, the statue that
did little more than form an image of Spanish glory.64 appears in one of Vehizquez's Views, in the loggia or pavilion to
which it gave its name (Fig.49). It is also one of the antique
63 The armour seen here is, as often noted, preserved in the collection of the
Duke of Alba, Madrid. SOEHNER, op. cit. p. 101, mentions a second example.
figures that may have inspired the pose of his 'Rokeby' Venus
(National Gallery), painted either shortly before or during his
64 The authors wish to acknowledge their debt to Prof. Marcus Burke, who as
a former Clawson Mills fellow at the Metropolitan Museum second visit
assembled a to Rome. Unfortunately there is no record of
where
considerable amount of information on the authorship and dating of the artist
the paint- stayed on this occasion. Palomino, who pro-
ing in New York (Fig.35), and on historical iconographical questions
videsrelating
a list of the statues that he had copied in Rome, says that
to the subject.
on his way there he stopped in Florence.5 Possibly he took the
opportunity to seek the Grand Duke's permission to have casts
made of his antiques in the Villa Medici; he may even have
asked to stay once again in this much favoured spot in Rome;
certainly the making of the casts would have required his pres-
ence there, wherever he lodged. The casts and other works of
art acquired by Velizquez in Italy in 1649-51 are recorded in
Shorter Notices the inventory of the royal palace made after the death of Philip
IV, in 1666, and it is there that his Views of the Villa Medici are
recorded for the first time. There is no mention of them in the
previous inventory of 1636-67, which is another argument,
though not evidence, for their later dating.6
Veldzquez and the Villa Medici So far as the debate on dating has been based on style alone,

BY ENRIQUETA HARRIS

THE two little Views of the Villa Medici Gardens in Rome (Figs.49 1 JOSE L6PEZ-REY: The Artist as a Maker. With a Catalogue Raisonni of the extant
and 50) are unique in Velizquez's euvre. Not only are they on works, Lausanne-Paris [1978], nos.46, 47, dates them in 1630 and quotes the
an exceptionally small scale, comparable only to the back- views on dating of some other critics. He also quotes entries in the royal
inventories from 1666 until the paintings entered the Prado Museum in 1819.
ground scenes in some of the larger compositions, they are also
In his most recent study of the paintings, LUIS DIEZ DEL CORRAL: Veldzquez, la
the only surviving landscapes that are indisputably autograph. Monarquia e Italia, Madrid [ 1979], pp.215-84, discusses the arguments about
Consequently, since they are not documented, they present an dating and gives his own good reasons for attributing them to the later pe
extreme example of dating Velizquez's work on style alone. (pp.278-81, note 70). For the suggestion that they may have been painted
The actual views have changed very little since they were separate occasions see ANTONIO BONET CORREA: 'Velizquez y los jardin
Madrid Casa de Velilzquez: 'Velizquez: son temps, son influence'. Actes
painted by Velizquez and are easily recognised as the so- colloque [1960], Paris [1963], pp.127-32.
called Loggia or Pavilion of Cleopatra (Fig.51) and the Grotto- 2 F. PACHECO: Arte de la Pintura [1649], ed. F. J. Sinchez Canton, M
Loggiafafade (Fig.52): the loggia or pavilion that formerly shel- [1956], I, p.160.
tered the antique statue of Cleopatra/Ariadne and the exterior of 3 JUSEPE MARTINEZ: Discursos practicables del nobilisimo arte de la pintura
Carderera, Madrid [1866], pp.118-19.
the loggia leading into a grotto at the east end of the terrace,
L On the antiques that Velazquez had copied in Rome, see ENRIQUETA H
beneath the wood. Today, apart from the disappearance of the 'La Misidn de Velazquez en Italia', Archivo Espaijol de Arte [1960J, pp.109-36;
transient features, the human figures and the hoarding, the F. J. SANCHEZ CANTON: Veldzquezy 'lo Cldsico', Madrid [1961]. That it was th
different trees and statues and details of the pilasters, the views statue of Ariadne in the Villa Medici of which a cast was made rather than the
are to all intents and purposes the same. It is possible, there- one in the Vatican is supported by the fact that the latter was no longer in t
Belvedere in 1650 and it was the statues in the Belvedere that are mentioned i
fore, to judge the accuracy with which Velazquez has recorded
Velizquez's application to make casts. See DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE LA PENA
the scenes and this leaves little doubt that they were painted GONZALEZ: 'El segundo viaje de Velazquez a Italia: dos cartas ineditas en lo
on the spot. The question is whether they were painted during archivos del Vaticano', Archivo Espanol de Arte [1971], pp.1-7.
the artist's first or second visit to Italy, which means a differ- 5 A. PALOMINO: Museo Pictrrico III [1724], ed. Madrid [1947], pp.913-17 (list o
ence in dating of no less than twenty years. Modern critics statues), p.912 (stay in Florence). On his visit to Florence, see also
have varied in their opinions and it has even been suggested BRUNETrI: 'Per il soggiorno fiorentino di Velizquez', Varia Veldzqueia I [19601
pp.296-300.
one scene was painted on the first, the other on the second 6 See note 1, LOPEZ-REY, p.297.

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