PEDRO ORRENTE

(1580 / 1645)

PEDRO ORRENTE Murcia (1580) / Valencia (1645) "Portrait of a gentleman with a ruff", c. 1620

Oil on canvas. On the reverse, attached to the frame, is a label from the Delegated Board of Seizure, Protection and Salvage of Artistic Treasures. Old chalk inscription "Albiz". Provenance: Collection of Maria Josefa Gutierrez-Maturana and Matheu-Arias-Davila, Countess of Albiz (until 1981); from then on, by succession, to its current owners. Portraits have fulfilled a legitimizing function since their origin, in which the person portrayed proudly displayed their lineage and social rank. In Spanish Golden Age painting, portraiture ceased to be the exclusive preserve of the ruling classes thanks to the emergence of a new concept of "portraitability" and a new appreciation of "virtus," in which every person deserved to be portrayed based on their personal virtues, such as an exemplary life, moral integrity, or brilliance in their work. Francisco Pacheco himself expressed in his treatise that nobility and lineage were no longer the main values ​​for someone to be portrayed. One of the most relevant examples is the "Ingenios" by Van der Hamen (1596-1631). The year of his death, twenty bust portraits of illustrious figures were inventoried among his estate. These portraits were conceived as a group in themselves, and included various literary figures from the Spanish Golden Age, such as Quevedo, Gongora, Lope de Vega, and Ruiz de Alarcon. The surviving examples of this series exhibit similar characteristics to this portrait, which must have been executed in a similar time period, around the 1920s. They all share the same general characteristics: the subjects are depicted bust-length or three-quarter-length, emerging from a neutral background and bearing some inscription or text alluding to their identification. These works were grouped together in the great collections of the 17th century, within galleries dedicated to illustrious men. One example is the one the Marquis of Leganes had in his villa in Morata. We do not know the identity of the subject depicted here, and the only information we have about him, thanks to the inscription above, is that he was 57 years old at the time of the painting. His black clothing against the neutral background makes his face stand out and draws attention to himself. The detailed treatment of his features and his naturalism lead us to believe that this is a portrait taken directly from life. The cartouche with the Latin inscription “Initium sapientiae timor Domini” (The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom), taken from the Book of Proverbs (9:10), was sometimes used as a motto in religious or educational institutions, so the sitter must have been dedicated to these same tasks. The type of short, loose brushstrokes that shape the strands of hair and the hair on his face,The chromatic impasto used in the flesh tones of the face, the drawing of the eyes with the lower eyelid outlined in white, and the treatment of the background lead us to attribute the painting to Pedro Orrente. Several works by him are known that are very similar in conception and in which the same technique can be seen, such as the Self-Portrait in the Prado Museum, which belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier (P003242), and the Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff, from a Valencian noble collection and which was sold some years ago. The same technique and types can be seen in some of his large compositions from the Toledo period, such as the Miracle of Saint Leocadia of 1616. Dimensions: 90.5 x 69.5 cm.