Lección de equitación del príncipe Baltasar Carlos, by Diego Velázquez

Alonso Martínez de Espinar (5 May 158814 May 1682) was a Spanish courtier and one of three important writers on venery of the Spanish Baroque. He was a ''ballestero'' ("crossbowman") and arquebusier to several

kings of Spain This is a list of Spanish monarchs, that is, rulers of the country of Spain. The forerunners of the monarchs of the Spanish throne were the following: *Kings of the Visigoths * Kings of Asturias * Kings of Navarre *Kings of León *Kings of Gal ...

Life

Martínez de Espinar was the son of Cristóbal Martínez de Espinar, of Baza in

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, and Juana Hernández Sacristán, who was from

Brunete Brunete () is a town located on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain with a population of 10,730 people. History There was no military garrison in Brunete and there was no rebel attempt to seize the city during the coup of July 1936. Brunete remain ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Madrid. He was baptised in the church of

San Martín San Martín or San Martin may refer to: People Saints * Saint Martin (disambiguation)#People, name of various saints in Spanish Political leaders *Vicente San Martin (1839 -1901), Military, National hero of Mexico. *Basilio San Martin (1849 ...

in Madrid. He had a sister, Jerónima Martínez de Espinar, who married Alonso Mateos, who was ''ballestero'' to the King of Spain and the brother of

Juan Mateos Juan Mateos (?–1594) was a wealthy inhabitant of Gibraltar during the Spanish period. He was remembered for being the founder of Gibraltar's first hospital, which subsequently became the old St Bernard's Hospital. Early life Juan Mateos was a ...

, author of another important book on venery.

Pictorial representations

Martínez de Espinar appears in the original version of ''

Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School ''Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School'', es, La lección de equitación del príncipe Baltasar Carlos, is a painting by Diego Velázquez, painted at the Palacio del Buen Retiro outside Madrid, probably in 1636. There are two versions ...

'' painted by

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

at the

Palacio del Buen Retiro Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect Alonso Carbonell (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recre ...

in 1636. He is shown in the right middle ground of the picture, handing a lance to Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, riding-master to Prince Baltasar Carlos, who will then hand it to his charge, who is on horseback in the foreground; behind Martínez de Espinar is Juan Mateos, while on a balcony of the palace stand King Philip IV and Queen Isabel. Three portraits are known or believed to be of Martínez de Espinar: the frontispiece of his book ''Arte de ballestería y montería'', an

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

by , also known as Johannes van Noordt III; an anonymous painting of the school of Velázquez in the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

in Madrid, thought to be of him; and another anonymous portrait in the Museo del Greco in

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

Published work

The ''Arte de ballestería y montería'' is one of the three principal works on venery of the Spanish Baroque period. It was published in Madrid in 1644, with a

preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a '' foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...

by Francisco de Quevedo Villegas. It is dedicated to

Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias Balthasar Charles (17 October 1629 – 9 October 1646), Prince of Asturias, Prince of Girona, Duke of Montblanc, Count of Cervera, and Lord of Balaguer, Prince of Viana was heir apparent to all the kingdoms, states and dominions of the Spa ...

, and contains portrait engravings of him and of Martínez de Espinar by Juan de Noort; the other engravings, of hunting scenes, are by an unknown hand. The book is in three parts, and – despite the title, which means roughly "the art of crossbowmanship and hunting" – deals with hunting both with the

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fi ...

and with the arquebus; it also covers hunting with lures and traps. A second edition was published in 1739 in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, which at that time was under Spanish rule; another was published by Antonio Marín in Madrid in 1761.

Gallery

File:Portret van Alonso Martinez de Espinar, RP-P-1938-590.jpg,

Engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

by Juan van Noort from the ''Arte de ballesteria y monteria'', 1644 File:Supuesto alonso martínez de espinar-prado.jpg, Anonymous portrait, school of Velásquez,

, Madrid

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martínez de Espinar, Alonso 1588 births 1682 deaths