Peyton Wright Gallery has recently acquired three 17th century Spanish paintings, with detailed information on each.
Luis Tristán
(1585 – 1624)
St. Anthony Abbott
early 17th century
62.5 ” x 43″
Framed: 78.5″ x 57.5″
Painting, oil on canvas
Region: Europe, Spain
The painting depicts a St. Anthony portrayed as barefoot, bearded older man, dressed in a off-white long-sleeved long robe under a cape, or mozetta, with a cap. The shoulder of the mozetta has an embroidered cross. St. Anthony sits with an opened book in this lap, body turned toward the viewer’s right while his upturned face is turned to the viewer’s left. His palm of his left hand his open towards the viewer and rests on his knee, while his right arm and hand is held against his chest.
Beside the man is another opened book on which lies a skull and a bell. A small plume of smoke appears to rise from the book’s corner. Behind that is yet a third tome. There is a large, broad-leaved plant in the lower left corner of the painting. Trees and foliage surround the sitter, while in the upper left corner the clouds appear to part, letting the sun shine through.
Provenance: Valerian von Loga
Literature: Alfonso E. Perez :Sanchez and Benito Navarette Prieto, “Luis Tristan” (Madrid: Real Fundación de Toledo and Fundación BBVAm 2001) 168, catalogue# 76
The artist often painted several versions of certain compositions. There is a version of this painting in the Prado,, but according to Dr. William Jordan, it is in less good condition, and lacks the foreground plant in the subject property, The Prado version is illustrated and discussed in a section written by Alfonso E, Perez Sanchez for the exhibit El Toledo del Greco, Toledo, Spain, April-June 1982, (p, 201, illustration #179, A third version, now lost, belonged to the Marques del Saltillo and is considered a replica.
Luis Tristán de Escamilla, also known as Luis de Escamilla or Luis Rodríguez Tristán (c.1585, Toledo – 1624, Toledo), was a Spanish painter in the mannerist style.
Tristán was born into a family of merchants and artisans. In 1603, he entered the workshop of El Greco, and remained there until 1606. He initially imitated his teacher’s style to the extent that many of his works have been attributed to him and vice versa. After El Greco’s son, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli, Tristán is considered to be his principal follower, stressing the Tenebrist aspects of some of El Greco’s work. Tristán’s style (notably his characteristically elongated proportions) owes much to the master, but Tristán is more sober, marking the transition from Mannerism to a more naturalistic approach.
Tristán then spent seven years in Italy, returning home around 1613. He would work exclusively in Toledo for the rest of his life.
His post-Italian work showed the influence of the Caravaggisti and the general aesthetic approach of the Counter-Reformation. Apart from a few realistic portraits, his work is religious in focus.
One of his best-known students was the still-life painter, Pedro de Camprobín.
Francisco Gutiérrez Cabello
(1616 – ca. 1670)
Capriccio of the Judgement of Solomon
ca. 1660s
46.75″ x 71″
Framed: 56″ x 80″
Painting, oil on canvas
Region: European, Spain
An elaborate architectural fantasy or capriccio depicts the Old Testament story of the judgment of Solomon. Solomon, in a crimson robe and crown, sits in the left foreground on a large, carved, ornate throne with a red baldachin above him. The two women who each claimed the same baby
(lying on tiled floor between them) plead their case before the king.
Solomon has extended his right arm, and one of his guards, !bare from the waist up, nears the baby with a sword, in order to carry out the king’s order
to cut the baby in half. The woman to the right of the baby throws up her arms as if shielding the infant from the man. Other figures fill the foreground, dressed in costume as if for a theatrical production.
A great open arch defines the right side of the painting. Two solomonic columns flank the opening, through which can be seen a formal European garden, with paths, garden beds, potted trees or shrubs and a tiered fountain. Beyond the garden rises a three-story palace of contemporary Spanish design, with an arcade on the first floor. The sky is a clear blue with towering clouds.
The artist painted two other pieces of the same subject and scene; one is in the Prado Museum, the other in Villagarcía de Campos.
Francisco Gutiérrez Cabello (c. 1616-1670) was a Spanish Baroque painter specializing in painting architectural perspectives accompanied by stories generally taken from the Bible.
There is not much information about his life, although it is known that he was born in the valley of Bárcena (Cantabria) and that he was of noble blood, as he sometimes mentions the ennobling “don” next to his name and the Cantabrian plots of land in his surname. It is not known when and under what circumstances he moved to Madrid, but his move must have been very early, since in 1630, when he was fourteen, he met Velázquez at the Court. This fact may perhaps determine his apprenticeship in painting with some famous master linked to the palace; given Cabello’s specialization and style, the apprenticeship likely could have taken place under Juan de la Corte.
His source of inspiration also drew on Flemish mannerist prints, especially those of Vredeman de Vries.
He appeared as a painter at a very young age, in 1639, buying various objects at Vicente Carducho’s auction, including two clay figurines, a Fortune and a Mercury for 12 reales. Once he had settled as a painter in Madrid he formalised his marriage to Clara de Tovar, who would outlive him over time.
His skill in the genre of perspectives must have quickly given him prestige and somewhat focused his professional career. In 1649 he executed various projects for the street decorations that were made for the entry into Madrid of Queen Mariana of Austria, carrying out various demonstrations of the Puerta de Alcalá and triumphal arches that would mark the royal procession. His success as a painter in Madrid must have been great. Díaz del Valle, chronicler of Philip IV and singer of the royal chapel, recorded his prestige in the Origen ilustración del nobilísimo y real arte de la pintura of 1657, considering the artist as an “admirable painter of perspectives”.
Gutiérrez complemented his own income by working as an appraiser of painting collections throughout Madrid.
Francisco Gutiérrez died between 1668 and May 1670, when his wife Doña Clara de Tovar declared herself a widow after dealing with some financial matters.
Rodrigo de Villandrando
(1588 – 1622)
Portrait of Phillip IV
1622
46″ x 38.5″
Framed: 55″ x 50″
Painting, oil on canvas
Region: Europe, Spain
In this three-quarter portrait of the 17-year-old king, young Philip faces the viewer, his right arm extended and resting on the back of a chair upholstered in red. He holds a dossier inscribed with the name of the king’s secretary: Senor/Garçi gallo desca / lado Secretario/ De Vuestro M. His left hand rests on the hilt of his sword.
Philip’s strawberry blond hair is swept back from his face. His wears a blue ruff and matching ruffled cuffs, a burgundy doublet with gold buttons and gold and white sleeves, burgundy breeches with gold thread embroidery and a long cape lined in a rich horizontal striped silk.
Provenance: This portrait was recorded, with attribution, in the inventories of Galló de Escalada’s collection, in 1624 and following his death in 1648.
Literature: William B. Jordan, “Juan van der Homen y León & the Court of Madrid” New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2005. p. 122-124, illustration figure 7.5
This painting was thought to have been painted by Bartolomé Gonzalez, but it has since been attributed to Viilandrando. It is one of the the earliest known portraits of Philip after his assent to the throne.
Rodrigo de Villandrando (1588 – December 1622) was a court painter during the reign of Philip III of Spain. He worked in the tradition of Alonso Sánchez Coello and Juan Pantoja de la Cruz.
The son of a musician from His Majesty’s Chamber, Villandrando became a chamber usher in 1621. He trained as a court portrait painter with Juan Pantoja de la Cruz and became one of his most skilled disciples. His own work echoes his teacher’s, prolonging the tradition that precedes Sánchez Coello’s and presents royal figures with wooden severity and a plethora of minor details. These works repeated complex schemes of symbolic staging designed to convey a sense of royal majesty.
Villandrando is known to have had close relations with various court figures as well as a relatively comfortable economic situation, which was uncommon among his fellow painters at that time.
After he died, his post as king’s painter was occupied by Velázquez. Villandrando also painted religious works, which are now in various locations, including the monastery of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid and the Carmelite convent at La Cuerva de Toledo.
