Don Diego de Guevara ( 1450–1520) was a Spanish
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...
and ambassador who served four, possibly five, successive
Dukes of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...
, spanning the
Valois and
Habsburg dynasties, mostly in the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. He was also a significant art collector.
Career
He was a younger son of Ladrón de Guevara, Lord of
Escalante
Escalante may refer to:
People
*Amat Escalante (born 1979), Mexican filmmaker
*Bernardino de Escalante (born 1537), 16th-century Spanish writer, author of one of the first European books on China
*Enrique Escalante (born 1984), Puerto Rican volley ...
near
Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
in northern Spain, and his date of birth is unknown, but may have been as early as "about 1450".
[Campbell, 192-193] After his death the
Constable of Castile
Constable of Castile ( es, Condestable de Castilla) was a title created by John I, King of Castile in 1382, to substitute the title ''Alférez Mayor del Reino''. The constable was the second person in power in the kingdom, after the King, and hi ...
wrote to
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
praising Guevara's more than forty years of service to the Dukes of Burgundy.
[Wolff, 232] He may have been at the Burgundian court as a page or
valet de chambre
''Valet de chambre'' (), or ''varlet de chambre'', was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal households had many persons appointed at any time. While some valets simply waited on t ...
from a relatively young age, and an early 16th-century source says he spent ''toute jeunesse'' ("all
isyouth") at the court. His older brother, another Ladrón de Guevara, had been in the Burgundian court long before him, before 1461 according to a 16th-century history of the family. This also said that Diego was an esquire of the Valois Duke
Charles the Bold
Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...
at the disastrous
Battle of Nancy
The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars, fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, against René II, Duke of Lorraine, and the Swiss Confederacy.
René's ...
in 1477, and threw himself over Charles' dead body to protect it. He is recorded as an esquire of Charles's daughter and successor
Mary of Burgundy
Mary (french: Marie; nl, Maria; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled a collection of states that included the duchies of Limburg, Brabant, Luxembourg, the counties of ...
at the time of her death in 1482, and continued in the service of her son
Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy.
![Michel Sittow - Virgin and Child - WGA21466](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Michel_Sittow_-_Virgin_and_Child_-_WGA21466.jpg)
He rose through the ranks of the ducal household, becoming
chamberlain
Chamberlain may refer to:
Profession
*Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure
People
*Chamberlain (surname)
**Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
by 1501. He was first ''maitre d'hotel'' to Philip's wife, Queen
Joanna of Castile
Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to P ...
(Joanna the Mad) when the couple travelled to Spain in 1506.
He was used as an ambassador, then usually an appointment for a relatively brief mission, to England and the court of
Ferdinand II of Aragon. After Philip's death in 1506, Diego became councillor and chamberlain to Philip's son
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Charles appointed him knight and warden (''clavaría'') of the
Order of Calatrava
The Order of Calatrava ( es, Orden de Calatrava, pt, Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Orde ...
in 1517,
and in 1518
Mayordomo mayor {{short description, High Steward of Spain
The Mayordomo mayor (High Steward) was the Officer of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain in charge of the person and rooms of the King of Spain. The Office of “Mayordomo mayor” w ...
, an important role in charge of his personal apartments and arrangements.
Diego de Guevara died in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
on 15 December 1520. He was a cousin of
Antonio de Guevara
Antonio de Guevara (c. 1481 – 3 April 1545) was a Spanish bishop and author. In 1527 he was named royal chronicler to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. His first book ''Libro áureo'' first appeared in pirated editions the following year. This pseu ...
,
and had at least one child, his illegitimate son
Felipe (see below).
It's possible that female relative of his lived in Netherlands with him. One of portraits by Master of Legend of Magdalene, shows lady in 1510s Netherlandish outfit and described as Marguerite (de) Guevara, lady in waiting to Eleanor of Austria.
Art collector
There are various references to works of art owned by him, and several well-known survivals.
Diego de Guevara owned the famous ''
Arnolfini Portrait'' by
Jan van Eyck, dated 1434 and now in the
National Gallery, London and gave it to
Margaret of Austria by 1516, as an inventory of her goods made that year records. How it had come into his hands is unknown. Margaret was Mary of Burgundy's other child and by 1516 Habsburg Regent for her nephew Charles V in the Netherlands.
Guevara's presumed portrait by his fellow courtier
Michael Sittow
Michael Sittow ( 1469 – 1525), also known as Master Michiel, Michel Sittow, Michiel, Miguel, and several other variants, was a painter from Reval (Tallinn), Estonia who was trained in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. For most of ...
, perhaps of about 1517 and now in the
National Gallery of Art, Washington
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
, is identified firstly by a description of what seems to be the same painting in the ''Comenturas de la Pintura'' ("Commentary on Painting", c. 1560) by Guevara's illegitimate son
Felipe de Guevara, a
Renaissance humanist
Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...
notable for this work. There is also an identification of Diego de Guevara as subject of a portrait in 1548 in the inventory of the Spanish widow of
Hendrik III of Nassau, an ally and close friend of Charles V who was a general and diplomat for the Habsburgs. There the portrait forms half of a
diptych
A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...
with a ''Madonna and Child'', which is identified with one in the
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
The Gemäldegalerie (, ''Painting Gallery'') is an art museum in Berlin, Germany, and the museum where the main selection of paintings belonging to the Berlin State Museums (''Staatliche Museen zu Berlin'') is displayed. It was first opened in ...
, which matches the Washington portrait in size and other details. Like other Sittow Madonnas, it is thought that the painting was also a portrait of a princess at the court, and one suggestion for this and another Sittow portrait is
Katherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously P ...
, who was later queen to
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. The portrait of Guevara shows, emerging from beneath his fur collar, the
embroidered
Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on c ...
cross of the Order of Calatrava, which x-ray photographs show was added in the course of painting.
His son also says he was in possession of a portrait of Diego painted by
Rogier van der Weyden
Rogier van der Weyden () or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 140018 June 1464) was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly ...
(died 1464), for which no surviving candidates have been identified; he would have been a very young man at the time.
Guevara was also a keen collector of
Hieronymous Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/ Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, and in 1570-4 and 1596
Philip II of Spain bought several panels from Diego and Filipe's descendants, including ''
The Haywain Triptych
The ''Haywain Triptych'' is a panel painting by Hieronymus Bosch, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. A date of around 1516 has been established by means of dendrochronological research. The central panel, signed "Jheronimus Bosch", measu ...
'' and ''
Cutting the Stone'' now in the
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 ...
.
[Prado, #s 2052, 2056; Brown, 61; they contradict each other about the date of the ''Haywain'' purchase, and maybe other details.]
Notes
References
* Jonathan Brown: ''Painting in Spain, 1500-1700'' (Pelican History of Art), Yale University Press, 1998,
*Campbell, Lorne, ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings'', National Gallery Catalogues (new series), 1998, , , , , (also titled ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools'')
*
*''Museo del Prado, Catálogo de las pinturas'', 1996, p., Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, Madrid,
*Wolff, M. in: J.O. Hand & M. Wolff, ''Early Netherlandish Painting'', National Gallery of Art, Washington(catalogue)/Cambridge UP, 1986,
Google books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guevara, Diego de
1520 deaths
Duchy of Burgundy
15th-century Castilians
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Knights of Calatrava
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Spanish art collectors
Year of birth uncertain
Spanish courtiers