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Probably by Ignacio de Leon y Escosura, 'A Man in 17th-Century Spanish Costume', 1850-90

About the work

Overview

An unidentified man wearing fine seventeenth-century Spanish costume stands in a roughly sketched interior. His wealth is emphasised by the silver embroidery on his jacket, the fanciful slashed sleeves and the broad-brimmed hat lined with white feathers. He rests his arm on a chair and looks out at us. Underneath the thick curtain beside him it is just possible to make out the outlines of flowers. These belong to an earlier painting – a still life – and indicate that the artist of the painting reused an old canvas, probably dating from the seventeenth or eighteenth century.

This is a nineteenth-century imitation attributed to León y Escosura of a seventeenth-century painting. It is based on a life-size picture of a dwarf in the manner of Velázquez which is in the Prado, Madrid.

Key facts

Details

Full title
A Man in 17th-Century Spanish Costume
Artist
Probably by Ignacio de Leon y Escosura
Artist dates
1834 - 1901
Date made
1850-90
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
92.7 × 69.9 cm
Acquisition credit
Presented by Charles Henry Crompton-Roberts, 1890
Inventory number
NG1308
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

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.

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