Attributed to Johannes Priwitzer

Attributed to JOHAN PRIWITZER (Hungary, ca.1590-Spain, ca.1665)
"Count of Gondomar."
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 76 x 60 cm; 96 x 79 cm (frame).

The painter of Hungarian origin Johannes Priwitzer met the Count of Gondomar (Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1567-1626) when he was in England, at a time when he received commissions from the high British aristocracy. It was in the circle of the English court where he came into contact with personalities of the Spanish diplomacy who traveled to London, among them the Count of Gondomar, who was corregidor, advisor of State and Treasury, ambassador, governor and captain general of the kingdom of Galicia. In the Prado Museum there is an engraving made from a pictorial portrait by Priwitzer of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña (work of the engraver Richard Cooper). Possibly, Priwitzer portrayed the Count of Gondomar on several occasions. In the portrait shown here, his ability to capture the personality of his sitters is evident, as well as his adherence to a baroque style of contrasting light and sober palette. The white of the ruff contrasts with the black of the velvet doublet. The stylized oval, framed by the lechuguilla, denotes a resolute character, with an intelligent look, high and clear forehead. The light, subtly shimmering flesh tones are modeled by a cold light. Next to the buttons, under the chest, we observe the insignia of the Order of Santiago, to which the portrayed person belonged. The cross of Santiago highlights his aristocratic status and his commitment to the religious and military ideals of the Spanish Crown. In short, in this portrait, the verism of the good baroque portraits coexists with a studied degree of idealization, reflecting the importance of the character.

Very few portraits of the Count are known and it is known that he was portrayed by important artists of the time, including Velazquez, as there was a portrait painted by the artist at Stowe Palace in Buckinghanshire, of which we know its composition because it was reproduced in engraving by Robert Cooper. There is an oil portrait in the painting collection of the Royal Academy of History, which is the best known, although it is not of very good workmanship. Another portrait is in the gallery of illustrious personages in the palace of Buckinghan, as a memory of his Embassy in London, where he acted as Ambassador in two occasions and became intimate of King James I, playing a fundamental role in the European Politics of the moment.

Johannes Priwitzer was a Baroque painter born in the Kingdom of Hungary. He emigrated to England, during which period he painted the portrait of Lord William Russell and his dwarf, dated 1627 and signed "Johannes Privitzer of Hungary faciebat", kept in Woburn Abbey. In English lands, he found his place as a portraitist of the British aristocracy, under the imprint of the Anglo-Netherlandish School. In this circle he had strong connections with the Spanish nobility of the time, as well as with political figures, specifically with two diplomats, the Count of Gondomar -whom he portrayed- and Virgilio Malvezzi. . The English Civil War forced him to flee because he was a Catholic in the midst of the Protestant effervescence. It was then that he settled in Spain, specifically in Valladolid, where he is mentioned in 1647 (Urrea, J. in: Valladolid. Capital of the court (1601-1606), Valladolid, 2002, pp. 92-94).