Prado Museum presents "Portrait of a Man" recognized by Velazquez

In Madrid, the Prado Museum will exhibit “Portrait of a Man” by Velazquez. The painting arrived from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and will remain in Spain until January 27, 2013. The portrait will be exhibited in the framework of the project “Invited works”, launched by the Prado Museum in 2009.

Velazquez - Portrait of a Man

Prado offers the public an exceptional opportunity to see the picture now that it has again been attributed to the work of Velazquez. From 1963 until recently, it was believed that the painting was made by one of the students of the great artist.

In 2009, this male portrait was already exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, after which it was sent for restoration. After the painting, which was in very poor condition, was restored, the fact that it belongs to the brush of Velazquez himself became obvious. The previous examination of the canvas, which took place in 1963, could not unambiguously determine the authorship.

Until 1925, “Portrait of a Man” was in unknown watch collections in Germany. In 1925 or 1926, the painting was bought by the famous art dealer Joseph Duveen (Joseph Duveen) and put up for auction. By order of Doveyen, the portrait was slightly changed taking into account the preferences of that time: the background was made more uniform, the body of the man in the portrait, barely indicated by the author, was drawn much more carefully. The image has become, as experts say, more static and uniform.

The last restoration of the canvas freed him from this "straitjacket", exposing the technical techniques and manner of writing, characteristic of Velazquez. The background ceased to be homogeneous, and again acquired subtle gradations of color, depth and dynamism of the image, a subtle distribution of drawing levels, giving the impression of lightness inherent in the style of the artist.

The person’s identity in the portrait has not been reliably established. But some experts, based on the study of two self-portraits of Velazquez, are inclined to believe that the author himself is depicted in the picture. The similarity of the depicted man with the soldier in the painting "The Surrender of Breda" speaks in favor of this assumption. For a long time it was believed that in the image of this soldier Velazquez portrayed himself.

Anna Sidorova