DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ
64 x 41 3/8 in
This imposing portrait of Mother Jerónima de la Fuente, a Spanish nun from the order of the Poor Clares, is considered a highlight within Velázquez’s oeuvre as evidenced by its continuous presence in all major exhibitions and publications on the Spanish master over the last two decades. In the words of Xavier Bray, “the rugged features of the sixty-six-year-old nun in a realistic and uncompromising fashion, creat[e] a strong sense of her physical presence and profound spirituality...” An image of striking psychological penetration, this painting is still regarded as a perfect example of Velázquez’s unparalleled skills as a portraitist.
Provenance
Discovered in the Convento de Santa Isabel de los Reyes, Toledo, by restorer Jerónimo Seisdedos in 1931;
Sold by the nuns to Alejandro Fernández de Araóz, Madrid, in 1944;
His widow, Madrid;
Thence by descent within the Araóz family.
Exhibitions
Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Flanders, Espagne, Portugal du XVe au
XVIIe siècle, 19 May – 31 July 1954, no. 115;
Geneva, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Du Greco à Goya: chefs-d'oeuvre du Prado et de collections espagnoles, 16 June – 24 September 1989, no. 32;
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Stora Spanska Mästare, 12 December 1959 – 13 March 1960, no. 98;
Madrid, Dirección General de Bellas Artes, Casón del Buen Retiro, Velazquez y lo velazqueño, 10 December 1960 – 23 February 1961, no. 39;
London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Golden Age of Spanish Painting, 10 January – 14 March 1976, no. 44;
Madrid, Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Tesoros de las colecciones particulares madrileñas: Pintura desde el siglo XV a Goya, May – June 1987, no. 25;
Seville, Monasterio de la Cartuja de Santa María de las Cuevas, Salas del Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Velázquez y Sevilla, 1 October – 12 December 1999, no. 97; Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Velázquez in Seville, 8 August – 20 October 1996, no. 43;
London, The National Gallery, Velázquez, 18 October 2006 – 21 January 2007, no. 14; London, The National Gallery, The Sacred Made Real: Spanish painting and sculpture 1600-1700, 21 October 2009 – 24 January 2010, no. 16;
Paris, Grand Palais, Galeries nationales, 25 March – 13 July 2015, no. 32.
Literature
A. L. Mayer, Velazquez: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Pictures and Drawings, London 1936, p. 129, under cat. no. 547;
G. Martin-Méry, Flandres, Espagne, Portugal du XVe au XVIIe siècle, exh. cat., Bordeaux 1954, p. 105, under cat. no. 115;
C. Nordenfalk, P. Grate and P. Bjurström, Stora Spanska Mästare, exh. cat., Stockholm 1959, pp. 77-8, under cat. no. 98;
E. Lafuente Ferrari et al., Velazquez y lo velazqueño, exh. cat., Madrid 1960, pp. 51-2, under cat. no. 39;
J. López-Rey, Velazquez: A Catalogue Raisonné of His Oeuvre with an Introductory Study by Jose Lopez-Rey, London 1963, p. 320, under cat. no. 578;
P. M. Bardi, Tout l’oeuvre peint de Velázquez, Paris 1969, p. 89, reproduced fig. 17A;
A. E. Pérez Sánchez and X. De Salas., The Golden Age of Spanish Painting, exh. cat., London 1976, pp. 62-5, no. 44;
J. López-Rey, Velazquez: The Artist as a Maker with a Catalogue Raisonné of His Extant Works, Lausanne-Paris 1979, pp. 226-7, under cat. no. 21;
J. Brown, Velázquez. Painter and Courtier, New Haven and London, 1986, pp. 32-4;
E. Valdivieso, J. Urrea and J. Gállego, Tesoros de las colecciones particulares madrileñas: Pintura desde el siglo XV a Goya, exh. cat., Madrid 1987, pp. 68-9, under cat. no. 25;
C. Garrido Gómez and T. Gómez Espinosa, ‘Estudio técnico comparativo de los dos retratos de la Venerable Madre Sor Jerónima de la Fuente’, in Boletín del Museo del Prado, vol. 9, no. 25-7, 1988, pp. 66-76;
Du Greco à Goya: chefs-d'oeuvre du Prado et de collections espagnoles, exh. cat., Geneva 1989, p. 78, under cat. no. 32;
J. Gállego, Velázquez, exh. cat., Madrid 1990, p. 85, reproduced p. 86;
C. Garrido Pérez, Velázquez, técnica y evolución, Madrid 1992, pp. 89-95;
J. López-Rey, Velázquez. Catalogue Raisonné, Cologne 1996, vol. 1, pp. 33, 42; vol. 2, pp. 50-1, under cat. no. 21;
M. Clarke, J. H. Elliott et al., Velázquez in Seville, exh. cat., Edinburgh 1996, pp. 174-7, under cat. no. 43;
J. M. Serrera et al., Velázquez y Sevilla, exh. cat., Seville 1999, pp. 208-9, under cat. no. 97; D. W. Carr, X. Bray et al., Velázquez, exh. cat., London 2006, pp. 142-3, under cat. no. 14;
J. Cruz Valdovinos, ‘Precisiones sobre algunos retratos de Velázquez’, in B. Navarrete Prieto (ed.), En torno a Santa Rufina: Velázquez de lo íntimo a lo cortesano, exh. cat., Seville 2008, pp. 68-9;
X. Bray, The Sacred Made Real: Spanish painting and sculpture 1600-1700, exh. cat., London 2009, pp. 122-5, under cat. no. 16;
J. López-Rey, Velázquez. The Complete Works, Cologne 2020, p. 337, under cat. no. 18;
G. Kientz, Velázquez, exh. cat., Paris 2015, pp. 158-61, under cat. no. 32;
Z. Véliz Bomford, ‘Velázquez composes: prototypes, replicas and transformations’, inColnaghi Studies, 03, October 2018, p. 97.