DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0294
268
OLD WORLD MASTERS
narrow opening showing the leather jerkin underneath. Of like color
and also covered with silver embroidery are the bandolier and hose.
The only patch of gold is the Golden Fleece, all else—-collar, sleeves
of jerkin (pearl tone), lace cuffs, lace ruffle of boots, silver sheath-
being white. This white on the red produces the well-known effects
of a lighter or ‘camellian red.’ The hat alone is black, which is not
in keeping with the costume, and may probably be due to license on
the part of the artist, who here wished to avoid white on white, and
who needed a dark part in softening contrast to the silvery red of the
whole. At the same time the red of the bandolier and plume on the
red of the doublet shows the painter’s indifference to such matters.
To all this must be added the full flood of daylight which even pro-
jects an oblique shadow from the mustachios on to the cheek. The
stupendous relief is effected by the empty, dark-grey surface of the
ground and by the spare brown shadows, which help to bring out the
collar, arm, and hat.”
When the portrait was finished “it was hung in the church under a
canopy embroidered in gold where much people congregated to see
it.” The record adds that “copies thereof are already being made.”
The one in the Dulwich Gallery, England, is one of these.
The picture was sent by Ferdinand VI, King of Spain, to his step-
brother, the Grand Duke of Parma; and it remained in the Parma
Palace until recent times, when it was sold by Prince Elias.
Philip IV was born in 1605, died in 1665, and ascended the throne
when he was only sixteen. He was a solemn person, with coarse tastes
and was fond of horse-play. He, however, gave his patronage to
Velasquez, Calderon, and Lope de Vega, which is much to his credit.
OLD WORLD MASTERS
narrow opening showing the leather jerkin underneath. Of like color
and also covered with silver embroidery are the bandolier and hose.
The only patch of gold is the Golden Fleece, all else—-collar, sleeves
of jerkin (pearl tone), lace cuffs, lace ruffle of boots, silver sheath-
being white. This white on the red produces the well-known effects
of a lighter or ‘camellian red.’ The hat alone is black, which is not
in keeping with the costume, and may probably be due to license on
the part of the artist, who here wished to avoid white on white, and
who needed a dark part in softening contrast to the silvery red of the
whole. At the same time the red of the bandolier and plume on the
red of the doublet shows the painter’s indifference to such matters.
To all this must be added the full flood of daylight which even pro-
jects an oblique shadow from the mustachios on to the cheek. The
stupendous relief is effected by the empty, dark-grey surface of the
ground and by the spare brown shadows, which help to bring out the
collar, arm, and hat.”
When the portrait was finished “it was hung in the church under a
canopy embroidered in gold where much people congregated to see
it.” The record adds that “copies thereof are already being made.”
The one in the Dulwich Gallery, England, is one of these.
The picture was sent by Ferdinand VI, King of Spain, to his step-
brother, the Grand Duke of Parma; and it remained in the Parma
Palace until recent times, when it was sold by Prince Elias.
Philip IV was born in 1605, died in 1665, and ascended the throne
when he was only sixteen. He was a solemn person, with coarse tastes
and was fond of horse-play. He, however, gave his patronage to
Velasquez, Calderon, and Lope de Vega, which is much to his credit.