Artwork Details
40-1/2 x 31 in. approximately 51 x 41 x 3-3/4 in. (framed)
Accession NumberAcquired through the generosity of Allen Whitehill Clowes
CopyrightEuropean Painting and Sculpture Before 1800
Color PaletteApolinar Sanchez, Madrid, Spain. Rafael J. Bosch.{1} Elena Rocha de Pitt Funes [1904 - ?], Buenos Aires, Argentina; Auction at (J.C. Naón & Cia SRL, Buenos Aires) in 1978.{2} (Stair Sainty Matthiesen, Inc., New York, New York) by 1993; Purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1993. {1} Sanchez and Bosch are listed as previous owners in the 1978 auction catalogue, see below. {2} Colecciones de Obras de Arte, J.C. Naón & Cia SRL, Buenos Aires, 25-26 July 1978, no. 20 (reproduced). A sticker on the stretcher links the painting to Naón’s Hotel de Ventas.
A native of Valencia, Vicente López was called to Madrid in 1814 by Fernando VII, newly restored to the Spanish throne after six years of Napoleonic rule. Soon afterward, he was appointed First Painter to the King, in effect replacing Goya as the preferred portraitist at court and marking a shift in taste toward a more classicizing style.
In this work, López portrays a courtier he must have known well. Juan Miguel de Grijalba, the learned favorite of Fernando VII, wears the dress uniform of the king's Secretary and grasps a bundle of letters emblematic of his office.
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
Painting in Spain in the Age of Enlightenment: Goya and His Contemporaries
Indianapolis Museum of Art
November 23, 1996 - January 19, 1997
A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans
Indianapolis Museum of Art
February 24, 1996 - April 2, 1996
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