The ''Portrait of Philip IV'' or ''Philip IV in Brown and Silver'' (and occasionally referred to as ''Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver'') is a portrait 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 ...

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 ...

. It is sometimes known as ''Silver Philip'' and is now in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It was the main portrait of Philip painted by Velázquez in the 1630s, used as the model for many workshop versions. The date of the work is not certain – the National Gallery website gives 1631–32, whilst Carrassat gives 1635 – but it was definitely the first portrait the artist produced after his first trip to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in that it adopts the softer and more colourful palette of the Venetian school. There is some evidence that the portrait may have taken a number of years to complete, accounting for the uncertainty. Life size, it is unlike most portraits of Philip IV, in that it does not show him in his usual wholly black costume. Instead it shows him in a brown and silver embroidered costume (thus giving the portrait its name), painted with small rapid strokes, and wearing the insignia of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

on a golden chain. There are several '' pentimenti'' that fine tune the composition. The signature is on the letter Philip holds, a fictive petition from the painter to him. This is a sign of the importance Velázquez attached to the work, as he only signed a few of his paintings.

Provenance

It was almost certainly the painting on display in the library at

the Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up ...

outside Madrid from the mid-17th century until 1809, when it was removed on the orders of

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

, who had been placed on the throne of Spain by his brother

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. He presented it to a General Desolle, despite a civil servant asking him to present a less important work. Desolle's daughter sold it after the general's death to the English collector

William Thomas Beckford William Thomas Beckford (29 September 1760 – 2 May 1844) was an English novelist, art collector, patron of decorative art, critic, travel writer, plantation owner and for some time politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's riches ...

, on whose death in 1844 it was inherited by his son-in-law, the 10th Duke of Hamilton. It was bought by the National Gallery for £6,300 at the 1882

Hamilton Palace Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it dated from the 14th century and was subsequently much enlarged in the 17th and 19th centuries.Kenneth Clark, the director of The

at the time, oversaw a cleaning and restoration of the ''Silver Philip'' in 1936, which created significant controversy. Clark employed art restorer Helmut Ruhemann, whose work Clark described as "far more skillful and scientific han other restorers, to carry out the cleaning. Clark's biographer, James Stourton, described the controversy of the "cleaning wars" at the time: :"Part of the problem was that Academicians thought that an artist should run the gallery (as indeed had usually been the case), rather than an art historian, and they actually enjoyed spats. The painting that aroused their feelings was the Velázquez portrait of Philip V the so-called 'Silver Philip', that had just received the attentions of Ruhemann. The ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' had been stirring up controversy by inviting well-known artists to voice their opinions on the subject. Critics included Alfred Munnings, William Nicholson, and

Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...

, who preferred to view the Old Masters through the golden glow of discoloured varnish, and even threatened the establishment of a Society for the Protection of Old Masters. A lot of ink was spilled on the matter of whether 'glazes' or varnish had been removed from the Velázquez. Clark defended the gallery in the letters page of ''The Times'' and

Sir William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

wrote an express approval of 'the Silver Philip'...The matter rumbled on for over a year. Neil MacGregor, the director of The National Gallery from 1981 to 1987, acknowledged that Clark had been privately concerned about the restoration, stating that Clark was, “fearful of what might be found if the golden veils of dirt and varnish were ever to be removed”. However, years after the controversy, Clark himself said, "I do not regard cleaning controversies as of any importance. They are epidemics that take place about every twenty-five years." The picture was included in an exhibition at the National Gallery in 1947 entitled "Exhibition of Cleaned Pictures" and was displayed alongside ''Philip IV of Spain'' (also called ''Philip IV when Elderly''), another portrait of Philip IV by Velázquez.

Notes

References

*Carrassat, P.F.R., ''Maestros de la pintura'', Spes Editorial, S.L., 2005. *

Neil MacLaren Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...

, revised Allan Braham, ''The Spanish School, National Gallery Catalogues'', 1970, National Gallery, London, * Reitlinger, Gerald; ''The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760–1960, Barrie and Rockliffe, London, 1961

External links

*
Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver
' – National Gallery webpage {{DEFAULTSORT:Philip Iv In Brown And Silver Portraits by Diego Velázquez 1635 paintings Collections of the National Gallery, London Portraits of Philip IV of Spain by Diego Velázquez

Provenance

Notes

References

Further reading

External links