154

Studio of Justus Sustermans
(Antwerp, 1597-Florence, 1681)

"Portrait of Mattias de' Medici (1613-1667)", formerly attributed to Velazquez as "Don Juan of Austria", ca. 1633-1645

oil on canvas
unsigned, "Velasquez" [later] inscribed in ink en verso.
Framed.
81-3/4" x 47-3/4", framed 95" x 62"

Provenance: Collection of John Rushout, Second Baron Northwick (1770-1859), Thirlestane House, Cheltham, U.K. as "Don John of Austria" by Velazquez, no. 62; also sold by Mr. William Augustus Phillips (now Phillips of London) as a Velazquez in the sale of the Lord Northwick Estate, July 26- August 15, 1859, lot 1499; John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax, Esq. (1800-1887), Dorset, U.K.; his nephew Wanley Ellis Sawbridge Erle-Drax, Olangtigh Towers, Wye, Kent, U.K., 1887; Private collection of Sam and Rie Bloomfield, Wichita, Kansas, 1950s-1990; Deaccessioned from Friends University, Wichita, Kansas; gifted to the University by the Sam and Rie Bloomfield Foundation, Newport Beach, California.

Literature: Hours in the Picture Gallery of Thirlestane House, Cheltenham: Being a Catalogue, with Critical and Descriptive Notices.... London: Longman & Co.1846, p. 20, no. 62; Catalogue of the Late Lord Northwick's Extensive and Magnificent Collection of Ancient and Modern Pictures...: London: Mr. Phillips, 1859, p. 133, no. 1499; Curtis, Charles Boyd. Velazquez and Murillo: A Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Works.... London: Sampson, Low, Marston Searle, and Rivington, 1883, p. 62, no. 148c; The Times (London). Feb. 21,1910, p. 14.

Notes: The London Times review of the Erle Drax sale at Christie's on February 19, 1910 stated that while most of the 108 big paintings Erle-Drax purchased at the Northwick sale of 1859 were offered at auction, "a few, however, do not appear, and some of these omissions are of sufficient interest to call for notice, [notably] the whole length Velazquez, Don Juan of Austria. . .". At the time of Curtis' catalogue raisonne on Murillo and Velazquez in 1883, this painting was reportedly still in the Erle-Drax collection. Its absence and misrepresentation does indeed merit attention; "Don Juan" does not reappear until a 1958 appraisal by Milton Holland in San Francisco for the Bloomfields, who purchased it (probably in London) during the early 1950s when they amassed much of their collection of old masters, and it remained a Velazquez until after it was gifted to Friends University, when Ian Kennedy, the Senior Vice President and Director of the Old Masters Collection at Christie's, New York, properly attributed it to a portrait of Mattias de' Medici by the studio of Sustermans in a 1992 letter, calling it "the most interesting work in the collection."

This impressive, life-sized portrait of Mattias de' Medici is a much larger version of the one conserved at the Pitti Palace in Florence. It is remarkable in the amount of attention given to the details of the sitter's "military costume", especially considering its size. The studs on the armor, the point de Venise lace collar and the red embroidered and lace-trimmed sash is the focal point of the painting; the tiny battle in the background is hardly visible, although it probably alludes to Mattias' involvement in the Thirty Years War in Austria from 1632-1639 and the Wars of Castro from 1641-1649, where he commanded the leagues of the Republic of Venice, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and the Duchies of Parma, Modena and Reggio against the Barberini Pope.

As the son of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Mattias was destined for an ecclesiastical career, but due to his poor disposition toward the vocation, he became a governor of Siena. Lover of arts, public festivities and finery, he was an important patron to many artists, including the Flemish painter Justus Sustermans, who spent most of his career in France and Italy at the Court of the Medicis. Sustermans painted Cosimo II's five sons and three daughters multiple times from childhood to adulthood, and he was often further commissioned by the Medici to produce multiple copies of their portraits (through his workshop) to be sent to the family's allied courts in Venice and Paris. One such fine example is the 1660 portrait of Mattias in armor and attended by a Moorish servant, now conserved in the National Gallery of Art. Executed in a near life-size scale, it too is a copy produced by the studio of Sustermans that was erroneously sold on the 19th-century London market. Instead of another "Don John" by Velazquez, it was sold in 1872 as Lord Fairfax by Sir Peter Lely.

In spite of 19th-century cataloging mishaps, this portrait exemplifies Sustermans' detailed, realistic depictions of his subjects, along with the dramatic use of light and dark, rich color, and exquisite rendering of textures and fabrics. His style was influenced by Diego Velasquez and the Venetian artists, combining realism with the atmosphere and sense of drama. Sustermans was keenly inspired by Velazquez's portrait of Francesco d'Este, Duke of Modena, painted in 1638 when d'Este visited Madrid to secure the support of Philip IV, King of Spain. Sustermans studied the painting extensively as he painted a portrait of d'Este's son, Alfonso IV, in the likeness of it when he visited the Duke's court in 1649. Both paintings of the d'Estes (conserved in the Galleria Estense in Modena) are depicted in three-quarter profile in polished black armor surmounted by the iconic Castilian red silk sash. Reserved for the nobility, it demarcated both political and ecclesiastical power; it was an expensive luxury only powerful countries with an advanced navy and mercantile trade could afford, as the rich carmine color was extracted from the cochineal, a tiny Mexican bug from the New World. The sash, often trimmed in gold thread network, is seen throughout Velazquez's portraits of the court of Philip IV; the sash is the focal point of General Spinosa's military costume in the famous painting of the "Surrender of Breda", 1635, in the equestrian portrait of "Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares", 1636, (of which there are two Velazquez copies in the Prado and the Metropolitan museums) and, most importantly, the portrait of "King Philip IV", 1638, in the Royal Collection, which was likely gifted to King Charles I by Sir Arthur Hopton, the English Ambassador to Madrid. In all three portraits, the similarities in composition and military costume are strikingly similar to the portrait of Mattias de' Medici: all figures dominate the picture plane and are offset by diminutive backgrounds and landscapes; all wear half- to three-quarter-length suits of black armor, richly decorated in studs and gold damascened mounts with Castilian sashes. Given the number of copies of political portraiture produced by European monarchies and powerful courts, it is quite possible that Sustermans encountered more Velazquez paintings when he executed this portrait and the matching pendant one in the Pitti Palace of his brother Francesco.

This painting is an extraordinary example of 17th-century political portrait painting, serving not only as a reminder of the Medici's power, but also as an insight into the sitter's personality - the unusual detail of the sash, embroidered with a floral design and trimmed in delicate gold thread and reticella lace is unique to this work. It may reference a mixture of Mattias' flamboyant personality as a patron of the arts and his ecclesiastical background, as the sash is similar in design and color to several surviving examples of such 17th-century Italian fabrics, particularly a fragment of a chalice veil, pictured in the European Embroidery 1650-1850, German Textile Museum, edited by Uta-Christiane Bergemann, Krefeld 2006 (Inv. No. 08772, cat, 35, p. 109).


  • Condition: **In overall very good condition. The painting exhibits a few campaigns of professional and conservative restoration: it has been cleaned, relined and revarnished several times, which makes it difficult for the UV light to fully penetrate the surface. Some minor inpainting some time ago was done to the lower right foreground and to the battlefield in the lower left foreground. Later inpainting is scattered throughout. Aside from a few small areas around the battlefield, the inpainting consists mostly of pinhead-sized retouching and reinforcing of the contour lines-- the gloves, forehead, cheeks and nose exhibit minute retouching, and the brim of the hat and some of the armor edges have been strengthened. Faint craquelure, which is barely visible in most lighting, is scattered throughout.


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