Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 'Portrait of Don Justino de Neve', 1665

Portrait of Don Justino de Neve

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Central Hall

About the work

Overview

This is an affectionate portrayal of one of Murillo’s most devoted patrons, Don Justino de Neve. The inscribed tablet on the wall reveals that the portrait was made in 1665 and was a gift from the artist – a gesture of friendship.

Murillo’s regard for his friend is obvious in the way he presents him: Justino appears intelligent and welcoming, and while his formal pose indicates his status he is not intimidating. Dressed in a black ecclesiastical cloak, he leans forward as if momentarily interrupted from prayer. The objects on the table relate to his scholarly interests and wealth; a devoted dog sits at his feet.

A well-respected churchman, Justino became a canon of Seville Cathedral in 1658. He secured an important commission for Murillo: a series of canvases for the church of Santa María la Blanca. This portrait may have been painted to show the artist’s gratitude.

In-depth

This is an affectionate portrayal by Murillo of one of his most devoted patrons, Don Justino de Neve. The inscribed tablet on the pilaster reveals that the portrait was made in 1665, when Justino was 40 years old, and that it was a gift from the artist – a gesture of friendship.

Justino was born in Seville in 1625, the son of a prosperous Flemish merchant, Juan de Neve, and a Spaniard, Sebastiana de Chaves. A coat of arms in the background combines the arms of the Neve family on the left and those of the Chaves on the right. Justino was ordained as a priest in 1646 and became a canon of Seville Cathedral in 1658. He was a well-respected churchman of considerable wealth, renowned for his charity, piety and devotion to learning.

Murillo’s regard for his friend is obvious in the sympathetic way he presents him: his formal pose indicates his status but his intelligent gaze is not intimidating. Dressed in a black ecclesiastical cloak, Justino leans forward slightly as if momentarily interrupted from prayer, his finger marking his place in the small book he holds. He sits in a wooden chair upholstered in crimson velvet, in a room with a view of the terrace and landscape beyond. A delicate silver bell, an ornate clock – the time indicates that Justino is nearing the end of mid-afternoon prayer – and a larger book, alluding to his scholarly interests, rest on the table. A plump ‘toy’ dog with a ribbon and bells on its collar gazes devotedly up at him.

There are echoes of this work in another Spanish portrait in our collection, Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning, which was painted by Velázquez’s son-in-law, Juan Bautista del Mazo, in 1666.

Justino was an avid art collector and owned 18 paintings by Murillo, including The Infant Saint John the Baptist with the Lamb, now in our collection. He also secured an important commission for Murillo: the decoration of a series of canvases for the church of Santa María la Blanca in Seville. This portrait was painted in the same year as the church’s inauguration, suggesting that it was intended to show Murillo’s gratitude for the support he had received. Justino also oversaw several other commissions, notably Murillo’s series of nine paintings for the chapter house of Seville Cathedral (1668) and other works for the Hospital of the Venerables Sacerdotes (1670s), an institution for poor and retired priests, founded in large part by Justino himself. On Justino’s death in 1685 this portrait was bequeathed to the Hospital, where it remained until the early nineteenth century.

Murillo painted far fewer portraits than he did religious subjects, though we are fortunate enough to own the artist’s Self Portrait from about 1670.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of Don Justino de Neve
Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Artist dates: 1617 - 1682
Date made: 1665
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 206 × 129.5 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated and inscribed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1979
Inventory number: NG6448
Location: Central Hall
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: George Watson Taylor
Frame: 19th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

The portrait was left to the Hospital of the Venerables in Don Justino’s will (1685) and it is recorded in the 18th century as hanging in the ante-refectory there. One of the many Sevillian paintings confiscated in 1810 on behalf of King Joseph Bonaparte, it was imported to England before 1818 and acquired by the collector and Member of Parliament, George Watson Taylor. Bought at his sale at Erlestoke Park in 1832 by the Marquess of Lansdowne and thence by descent. Acquired through Sir Geoffrey Agnew of Agnew’s from the Trustees of the Bowood Collection, 1979.

Additional information

Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery Report: January 1978 – December 1979’.

Exhibition history

2012

Murillo and Justino de Neve: The Art of Friendship

Museo Nacional del Prado

26 June 2012 - 30 September 2012

Fundación Focus-Abengoa

9 October 2012 - 20 January 2013

Dulwich Picture Gallery

6 February 2013 - 19 May 2013
2022

Murillo: From Heaven to Earth

Kimbell Art Museum

18 September 2022 - 29 January 2023

Bibliography

1772

A. Ponz, Viage de España: O cartas, en que se da noticia de las cosas mas apreciables, y dignas de saberse que hay en ella, Madrid 1772
1795

A. Palomino, El museo pictorico, y escala óptica, 3 vols, Madrid 1795
1800

J.A. Ceán Bermúdez, Diccionario histórico de los mas ilustres profesores de las bellas artes en España, Madrid 1800
1806

J.A. Ceán Bermúdez, Carta… sobre el estilo y gusto en la pintura de la Escuela Sevillana, Cádiz 1806
1816

F. Quilliet, Dictionnaire des peintres espagnoles, Paris 1816
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1844

A.M. Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London: Containing Accurate Catalogues, Arranged Alphabetically, for Immediate Reference, Each Preceded by an Historical & Critical Introduction […], London 1844
1844

F. González de León, Noticia artística, histórica y curiosa de todos los edificios… de Sevilla, Seville 1844
1848

W. Stirling-Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain, London 1848
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1884

'Royal Academy: Winter Exhibition (Third Notice)', The Athenaeum, 1884
1897

G.E. Ambrose, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures belonging to the Marquess of Lansdowne, London 1897
1913

A. Mayer, Murillo, Stuttgart 1913
1933

M. de Saltillo, Mr. Frédéric Quilliet, Comisario de Bellas Artes del gobierno intruso (1809-1814), Madrid 1933
1972

I.H. Lipschutz, Spanish Painting and the French Romantics, Cambridge MA 1972
1974

D. Angulo Íñiguez, 'El San Pedro de los Venerables de Sevilla', Archivo español de arte, 1974, pp. 157-8
1980

National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: January 1978 - December 1979, London 1980
1980

E. Young, De grossen Meister der Malerei, Bartolomé Murillo, Frankfurt 1980
1980

A. Braham, 'Murillo's Portrait of Don Justino de Neve', The Burlington Magazine, CXXII/924, 1980, pp. 192-4
1981

D.A. Íñiguez, Murillo. Su vida, su arte, su obra, Madrid 1981
1988

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Allan Braham, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1988
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

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