Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, 'Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning', 1666

Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning

Not on display

About the work

Overview

Seated in a palatial interior, Queen Mariana of Spain is in mourning – she wears a white wimple and the black habit of widow’s weeds. This portrait – one of Mazo’s finest works – was painted the year after the death of her husband Philip IV, King of Spain. Their son and heir, Charles, was too young to take to the throne, leaving Mariana to rule as regent.

She sits on a throne-like chair in the Alcázar, the royal palace in Madrid, which was destroyed by fire in 1734. Although represented as a wife and mother, Mariana holds a petition in her right hand, alluding to her official duties, on which are inscribed Mazo’s signature and the date 1666.

A young Charles appears in the background, accompanied by servants. Beyond him stands the gilded ‘toy’ carriage he used to move around the royal palace. Charles was a fragile child, and his death in 1700, without an heir, marked the end of Habsburg rule in Spain.

In-depth

Seated in a palatial interior, Queen Mariana of Spain is in mourning – she wears a white wimple and the black habit of widow’s weeds. This portrait – one of Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo’s finest works – was painted the year after the death of her husband Philip IV, King of Spain. Their son and heir, Charles, was too young to take to the throne, leaving Mariana to rule as regent until 1677.

She sits on a throne-like chair in the Hall of Mirrors of the Alcázar, the royal palace in Madrid, which was destroyed by fire in 1734. Her face is alert and her pose suggests that she is only sitting momentarily, perhaps implying that her position as ruler is temporary. Although represented as a wife and mother, she holds a petition, alluding to her official duties. An inscription on the paper names Mazo as the author of this portrait, identifies his position as court painter and includes the date 1666. A similar device was used by Velázquez in his Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver. A small dog – a symbol of fidelity – lies at her feet; a detail we also see in Murillo’s Portrait of Don Justino de Neve.

A young Charles appears in the background, accompanied by servants. He is being offered a drink from a red cup on a tray, and beyond him stands the gilded ‘toy’ carriage he used to move around the royal palace. Charles was a fragile child, and his death in 1700, without an heir, marked the end of Habsburg rule in Spain. Behind them is a bronze statue of Luna, Roman goddess of the moon, by the Flemish sculptor Jacques Jonghelinck, which adorned the palace’s Octagonal Room at the time (it is now in the Palacio Real, Madrid). The group in the background recalls Velázquez’s famous painting of 1656, Las Meninas (Museo del Prado, Madrid), in which Charles’s older sister, the young princess Margarita Theresa, is attended by maids and dwarves, and watched by her parents.

A replica of this portrait, possibly by Mazo himself, is in the El Greco Museum, Toledo. Only two of Mazo’s known paintings are signed: this, and his panoramic View of Zaragoza painted in 1647 (Prado, Madrid), which was inspired by Velázquez’s Philip IV Hunting Wild Boar (La Tela Real). Mazo was Velázquez’s son-in-law and principal assistant, and succeeded him as court painter after Velázquez’s death in 1660. Here, we can see his deliberate imitation of Velázquez’s loose, sketchy technique, though Mazo seems to lack his master’s subtlety.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning
Artist: Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo
Artist dates: about 1612/16; died 1667
Date made: 1666
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 196.8 × 146 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Inscribed
Acquisition credit: Presented by Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle, 1913
Inventory number: NG2926
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 17th-century Spanish Frame

Provenance

In the collection of the Earl of Carlisle by 1848; exhibited Royal Academy, 1890 (no. 129) and 1912 (no. 91). Presented by Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle, in 1913. Exhibited, Madrid, Velázquez y lo velazqueño, 1961 (no. 135).

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised by Allan Braham, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School’, London 1988; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2009

Brillos en bronce: Colecciones de reyes

Palacio Real (Madrid)

12 November 2009 - 24 January 2010
2013

Velázquez and the Family of Philip IV

Museo Nacional del Prado

8 October 2013 - 9 February 2014
2014

Velázquez Exhibition

Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais

25 March 2015 - 13 July 2015
2020

Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London

The National Museum of Western Art

18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020

The National Museum of Art

3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
2021

Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London

National Gallery of Australia

5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021

Bibliography

1888

C. Justi, Diego Velazquez und sein Jahrhundert, Bonn 1888
1952

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, London 1952
1955

Y. Bottineau, 'A Portrait of Queen Mariana in the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XCVII/625, 1955, pp. 114-7
1956

Y. Bottineau, 'L'alcázar de Madrid et l'inventaire de 1686', Bulletin hispanique, 1956
1958

J.A. Gaya Nuño, La pintura española fuera de España: Historia y catálogo, Madrid 1958
1970

N. MacLaren and A. Braham, The Spanish School, 2nd edn, London 1970
1982

C. Bernis, 'El traje de viudas y dueñas en los cuadros de Velázquez y su escuela', in Miscelánea de arte, Madrid 1982, pp. 145-54
1984

E. Young, 'Portraits of Charles II of Spain in British Collections', The Burlington Magazine, CXXVI/977, 1984, pp. 488-93
1988

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Allan Braham, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1988
1991

C. Brown, The Drawings of Anthony van Dyck, New York 1991
1991

N.A. Mallory, 'Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo: Retratos y paisajes', Goya, 221, 1991, pp. 265-76
1994

F. Checa, El Real Alcázar de Madrid: Dos siglos de arquitectura y coleccionismo en la Corte de los Reyes de España, Madrid 1994
1997

S.N. Orso, 'Mazo's Child in Ecclesiastical Dress: Suggestions for a New Interpretation', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, LXVI, 1997, pp. 143-54
2000

A.R.G. de Ceballos, 'Retrato de Estado y propaganda política: Carlos II (en el tercer centenario de su muerte)', Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte, XII, 2000, pp. 93-109
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2003

M. Morán, 'Reinterpretando a Velázquez: Carreño y el retrato de Carlos II', in F. Checa (ed.), Cortes del Barroco: De Bernini y Velázquez a Luca Giordano, Madrid 2003, pp. 63-72
2004

C.S. Oropesa and J.C.S. Herranz, Juan Bauptta Martínez del Maço: Pintor de cámara de Felipe IV, Yerno de Velázquez y conquense, Cuenca 2004
2005

P. Ackroyd, D. Carr and M. Spring, 'Mazo's "Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning"', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXVI/1, 2005, pp. 43-55
2006

M. Llorente, 'Imagen y autoridad en una regencia: Los retratos de Mariana de austria y los límites del poder', Studia historica. Historia moderna, 28, 2006, pp. 211-38
2009

D. Carr, El Greco to Goya: Spanish Painting, London 2009
2009

R. Coppel et al., Brillos en bronce: Colecciones de reyes (exh. cat. Palacio Real, November 2009 - January 2010), Madrid 2009
2010

M. Llorente, 'Queen Mariana of Austria as Regent and the Boundaries of Her Power in Mazo's Portrait', Object, 12, 2010, pp. 26-40

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

More works by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo

Don Adrián Pulido Pareja

Possibly by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo

A commanding male figure stares out at us, his white lace collar, shimmering silk sleeves and red sash standing out against his sombre black clothing and the nondescript background. This is Don Adrián Pulido Pareja, a distinguished captain in the Spanish royal navy.He wears the Knight’s badge of...