An Unknown Man wearing the Order of Santiago
attributed to Alonso Cano (Granada 1601 - Granada 1667)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1638 - 1640
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1867 x 1016 mm (73 1/2 x 40 in)
Place of origin
Granada
Order this imageCollection
Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd
NT 1420387
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, An Unknown Man wearing the Order of Santiago, attributed to Alonso Cano (Granada 1601 – Granada 1667). Previously thought to be a self-portrait, the picture shows a full-length portrait of a man, dressed in black, standing on a tiled floor and wearing order of St Iago with a cane in his right hand and a hat in his left. Recent cleaning has revealed a painting of high quality which may well be an original by Cano painted not later than 1638-40, and displaying the influence of Veläzquez of the 1620s and '30s. It was one of the collection of Spanish pictures given to King Louis- Philippe of France by Frank Hall Standish, which was sold at Christie's in 1853 after the death of the exiled king. It was bought by the 1st Lord Penrhyn as a self-portrait by Cano. When Louis-Philippe's widowed queen and children subsequently visited Penrhyn, Lord Penrhyn tried unsuccessfully to hurry them past this picture, thinking the recollections it would revive would not be pleasant.
Provenance
Collection of Frank Hall Standish, Seville, by whom bequeathed in 1840 to King Louis Philippe; Standish gallery, the Louvre; confiscated in the Revolution of 1848; returned in 1883 to the family, by whom sold at Christie's 28-30 May 1883, lot 151, as "A.Cano.Portrait of a man - whole length." (189 x 105 cm - French edition), sold for £63; Hugh Napier Douglas-Pennant, 4th Baron Penrhyn of Llangedai (1894 – 1949), who left Penryhn and its estates to his niece, Lady Janet Marcia Rose Pelham (1923 - 1997), who with her husband John Charles Harper, thereupon assumed the name of Douglas Pennant; accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Penrhyn Castle, 2002.
Credit line
Penrhyn Castle, The Douglas Pennant Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
attributed to Alonso Cano (Granada 1601 - Granada 1667), artist
References
Wethey 1955 Harold E. Wethey, Alonso Cano, 1955, p.190 Wethey 1960 H. E. Wethey, 'Velasquez y Cano', Vaia Velazquena, I, 1960, p. 454, pl.180