ZACARIAS GONZALEZ VELAZQUEZ

(1763 / 1834)

ZACARIAS GONZALEZ VELAZQUEZ Madrid (1763) / (1834) "Self-portrait", c.1823

Oil on canvas Inscribed on the paper in his hand: "Here the brush brought together/ A beloved family/ Grosolei gave it life/ And Velázquez painted it". Original 18th-century frame in moulded and gilded wood. On the back, on the frame in handwritten ink: "Ya i be??do"; on the frame in handwritten ink by the author: "The unforgettable friend of a m...? family, Zacarias Velazquez" This is the artist's fourth known self-portrait and the latest, painted when he was around sixty years old. The first self-portrait was painted in 1802 when he was thirty-nine; the second around 1813, when he was close to fifty; and the third in 1817. All of them are a psychological representation of the painter, a reflection of the vital moment he was going through. In this case, having already been named Director of Painting at the Academy by Ferdinand VII, he is represented without artifice, just as he is, proud as a painter and father of a family, as is evident in the note he carries. Provenance: -Collection of the Marquis of Santa María de Silvela -Gregorio Marañón Collection -Private collection, London Bibliography: -Photographic reference MAS Archive: G-49004 -Morales Marín, JL, "Mariano Salvador Maella" , Madrid, 1991, p.173 -"19th Century Spanish Painting. From Neoclassicism to Modernism", exhibition catalogue, 1991, p.80 -Morales Marín, JL, "Goya. Catalogue of painting", Zaragoza, 1994, p.257 -"Prado Museum. Latest acquisitions.1982-1995", exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 1995 -Nuñez, B., "On the pictorial work of Zacarías González Velázquez", Goya Magazine, No. 262, Madrid, 1998, p.50 -Nuñez, B., "Zacarías González Velázquez (1763-1834)", Foundation for the Support of the History of Hispanic Art, Madrid, 2000, pp. 224, 225 and 352, cat. no. P-169 (reproduced) Dimensions: 54 x 42.5 cm