Diego Velázquez Circle

Circle of DIEGO DE VELÁZQUEZ (Seville, 1599 - Madrid, 1660); First half of the XVII century.
"Portrait of Isabel de Borbón.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 70 x 56 cm.
Portrait of three quarters on neutral background in completely dark tone that makes the figure a lady with black hair that frames her snowy face that is framed in the darkness of the background and the great vaporous gola that gives way to a magnificent whose details are sketched. The face of the lady is clearly identifiable, it is the effigy of Queen Isabella of Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici and wife of the future Philip IV. The present work has been made in the style of the Spanish baroque court. In fact, a certain resemblance to the works of Velázquez can be appreciated, his aesthetics having served as a model for the creation of this work.
Both the subject matter and the technical precision of this portrait gave rise to an artistic attribution linked to Velázquez's circle. It is canonical to divide Velázquez's career by his two visits to Italy. He rarely signed his paintings, and the royal archives only give the dates of his most important works. Internal evidence and the history of his portraits provide the rest to some extent. Although he knew all the Italian schools and was a friend of the leading painters of his day, Velázquez was strong enough to resist outside influences and to develop for himself his own nature and his own artistic principles. He rejected the pomp that characterized the portraiture of other European courts and instead brought an even greater reserve to the sober formula of Habsburg portraiture established by Titian, Antonio Mor and Alonso Sánchez Coello. He is known for using a rather limited palette, but he mixed the available paints with great skill to achieve varied shades.