Inti Landauro, Velázquez: A Spaniard in Paris. Wall Street JOurnal, Mar 27, 2015.
www.wsj.com/articles/a-mammoth-p ... s-career-1427221504
Quote:
(a) “One of the most comprehensive displays of works by Diego Velázquez is opening this week at Paris’s Grand Palais. Showcasing 119 artworks from museums around the globe, it will cover the breadth of his career. But pulling together this large retrospective of the influential 17th-century Spanish painter was no easy feat for curator Guillaume Kientz.
“Mr Kientz, the chief conservationist for Spanish paintings at the Louvre, which is jointly producing the exhibition, spent the past two years negotiating with private collectors and museums
(b) “Appointed official painter to King Felipe IV in 1623, when he was in his early 20s and Spain was at its height of power, Velázquez became one of the most illustrious painters in Europe
(c) “Yet because of the turbulent geopolitics and revolutions of the 17th century, few of Velázquez’s works made their way to France during his lifetime—or after his death. The Louvre owns only one Velázquez, and it is at the Goya Museum in the southern town of Castres. There are two other Velázquez paintings in France—one in Orleans and another in Rouen—both of which will be at the Grand Palais.
“In fact, most of Velázquez’s works remain in Spain. The Prado Museum in Madrid, which has the largest Velázquez collection, including the celebrated ‘Las Meninas’
(d) “Mr Kientz has included some recent discoveries—such as ‘The Education of the Virgin,’ which sent ripples through the art world when Yale University Art Gallery curator John Marciari attributed it to a young Velázquez [qv] in a 2010 article—as well as portraits with somewhat questionable origins such as the Louvre’s 1654 portrait of Infanta Margarita, the same princess depicted in ‘La Meninas.’
“Sent by King Felipe IV to his sister Anne, the wife of France’s King Louis XIII, the painting was for decades attributed to Velázquez. But it was later considered to be the work of assistants at his workshop. After a recent restoration, Mr Kientz said he had enough elements to identify the disciple who painted the canvas: Velázquez’s son-in-law, Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo.
My comment:
(a)
(i) There is no need to read the rest.
(ii) The Spanish surnames Velazquez/ Velasquez mean a descendant of a person whose first name is Velasco. Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press.
(iii) Grand Palais
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palais(1900- )
* French English dictionary
palais (noun masculine; from Latin [noun neuter] palātium palace): “palace”
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palais
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