Juan Mateos ( – 15 August 1643) was a horseback

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and the principal arbalist of

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered f ...

. In 1634, he authored ''Origen y dignidad de la caça'' (Origin and Dignity of Hunting), a hunting treatise dedicated to the Count-Duke of Olivares. In his dedication he said, "I write solely what I have done, and what I have seen; and what I have seen, do." ( es, yo eſcrivo ſolamente lo que he hecho, y lo que he viſto; y lo que he viſto hazer.)

Background

He was the son of Gonzalo Mateos, senior arbalist to the Marquis of Villanueva del Fresno from 1601 to 1606, i.e., while the Spanish . Mateos entered the service of Margaret of Austria as a crossbowman and hunter. Upon her death in 1611, he entered the service of her husband, Philip III, and later the service of their son

Philip IV Philip IV may refer to: * Philip IV of Macedon (died 297 BC) * Philip IV of France (1268–1314), Avignon Papacy * Philip IV of Burgundy or Philip I of Castile (1478–1506) * Philip IV, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (1542–1602) * Philip IV of Spain ...

. Mateos' likeness is known through a bust portrait engraved by

Pedro Perete Pedro Perete, ( 16108 April 1639) was a seventeenth-century Baroque engraver and painter in Madrid. He was the son, and pupil, of engraver Peter Perret. Perete Hispanicized the family name from the Dutch "Perret". Many of his works have been attr ...

that appears on the front of ''Origen y dignidad de la caça'', one of whose illustrations is signed by painter

Francisco Collantes Francisco Collantes (1599–1656) was a Spanish Baroque era painter. Collantes was born in Madrid but sought influence from Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zur ...

. Based on that engraving, art historian Carl Justi identified Mateos as the model of an unfinished portrait of a gentleman cut below the waist painted by Velázquez around 1632 ('' Don Juan Mateos'', in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister), and, in the opinion of

Enriqueta Harris Enriqueta Harris Frankfort (17 May 1910 — 22 April 2006) was a British art historian and writer who specialised in Spanish art. Born into a family with an English father and a Spanish mother, she attended the University College London to read ...

, Mateos is one of the characters depicted with the Count-Duke of Olivares and

Alonso Martínez de Espinar 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. Life Martí ...

in ''

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 ...

''. He died in Madrid on 15 August 1643. Among the properties inventoried at his death were two full-length oil portraits, one of his wife María and the other of him, probably the '' Don Juan Mateos'', though the name of the painter is not indicated; these were valued at 100 reales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mateos, Juan 16th-century births 1643 deaths 17th-century Spanish writers History of hunting