Pope Innocent X

c. 1650

Shown from the shoulders up, a man with a flushed complexion, wearing a crimson-red cap and garment, looks at us from the corners of his eyes in this vertical portrait painting. He is brightly lit from behind us and the mahogany-brown background is deep in shadow. The man’s shoulders angle to our right, and he turns his head slightly to look at us with brown, deep-set eyes under arched brows. His wispy, auburn-brown goatee is tinged in silvery gray. His nose is slightly bulbous, and his thin lips are tightly closed in a straight line. Wrinkles and jowls give his face a paunchy look. His tall, flat-topped, fez-shaped hat covers his hair. A white, nearly translucent collar curls up along his neck and flares out to points at his collar. Rose-pink highlights on his red cape suggest it is a shiny material, like silk, and it is fastened with several small, dark buttons down the front.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 34

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 49.2 x 41.3 cm (19 3/8 x 16 1/4 in.)
    framed: 78.4 x 69.5 cm (30 7/8 x 27 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.80

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Sir Robert Walpole, 1st earl of Orford [1676-1745], Houghton Hall, Norfolk; by inheritance to his son, Robert Walpole, 2nd earl of Orford [1700-1751], Houghton Hall; by inheritance to his son, George Walpole, 3rd earl of Orford [1730-1791], Houghton Hall; sold 1779, through Count Aleksei Semonovich Musin-Pushkin, Russian ambassador to England, to Catherine II, empress of Russia [1729-1796], Saint Petersburg; Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg, inv. no. 418; sold July 1930, as a painting by Velázquez, through (Matthiesen Gallery, Berlin; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; and M. Knoedler & Co., New York) to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 30 March 1932 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1941

  • Spanish Painting, The Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art, 1941, no. 66.

1996

  • Houghton Hall: The Prime Minister, The Empress and The Heritage, Castle Museum Norwich; Kenwood House, London, 1996-1997, no. 52, repro., as Ascribed to Diego Velázquez.

2013

  • Houghton Revisited: The Walpole Masterpieces from Catherine the Great's Hermitage, Houghton Hall, King's Lynn, 2013, no. 14, repro.

2014

  • Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, 2014-2015, not in catalogue. (shown only in Houston and San Francisco).

  • Velázquez, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 2014-2015, no. 72, repro. (shown only in Paris).

Bibliography

1752

  • Walpole, Horace. Aedes Walpolianae: or a Description of the collection of pictures at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the seat of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford. London, 1752: 67 (also 1767 ed.: 67).

1855

  • Stirling-Maxwell, William. Velázquez and His Works. London, 1855: 248 (also French ed. 1865: 286, no. 194).

1883

  • Curtis, Charles B. Velázques and Murillo, a Descriptive and Historical Catalogue .... London and New York, 1883: 77, no. 186.

1888

  • Justi, Carl. Diego Velázquez und sein Jahrhundert. Bonn, 1888: 2:191 (rev. ed. 1903; 3d ed. 1933: 580; also English rev. ed. 1889: 580.

  • Lefort, Paul. Velázquez. Paris, 1888: 86.

1891

  • Stirling-Maxwell, William. Annals of the Artists of Spain. 3 (1848): 1402 (also 1891 ed., 4: 1586).

  • Bruiningk, E. and Andrei Somoff. Ermitage Impérial: catalogue de la galérie des tableaux, I; les écoles d'Italie et d'Espagne. Saint Petersburg, 1891: 225-226, no. 418.

1898

  • Beruete y Moret, Aureliano de. Velázquez. Paris, 120-121, 207 (also English ed. 1906: 86, 88, 159, pl. 60).

1899

  • Somoff, Andrei Ivanovich. Ermitage Impérial: catalogue de la galérie des tableaux, I; les écoles d'Italie et d'Espagne. Saint Petersburg, 1899: 189, no. 418 (also 1909 ed.: 189-190, no. 418).

1905

  • Gensel, Walther. Velázquez: des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst. Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1905: repro. 74.

1906

  • Stevenson, R.A.M. Velázquez. London, 1906: 148.

1908

  • Calvert, Albert F., and C. Gasquoine Hartley. Velázquez: An Account of His Life and Works. London, 1908: 114-115, 218.

1909

  • Wrangell, Baron Nicolas. Les Chefs-d'Oeuvre de la Galérie de Tableaux de l'Hermitage Impérial à St-Pétersbourg. London, 1909: x, xxxi, fig. 45.

1913

  • Mayer, August L. Geschichte der spanischen Malerei. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1913: 2:173 (also 1922 ed.: 414).

1914

  • Gensel, Walter, and Valerian von Loga. Velázquez, des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1914: 264, n. 168, repro. 168.

1924

  • Mayer, August L. Diego Velázquez. Berlin, 1924: 141-144, fig. 80.

1925

  • Gensel, Walter, and Juan Allende-Salazar. Velázquez: des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst. Berlin and Leipzig, 1925: 130, 282.

1926

  • Kehrer, Hugo. Spanische Kunst von Greco bis Goya. Munich, 1926: 132-133.

1930

  • Kehrer, Hugo. "Koepfe des Velázquez." Estudios eruditos in memoriam de Adolfo Borilla y San Martín. Madrid, 1930: 2:373.

  • Lunacharsky, A. V. Selected Works of Art from the Fine Art Museums of the U.S.S.R: Pictures by European Masters and Russian Painters of the XVII and XIX Centuries. Moscow, 1930: unpaginated, color repro.

1936

  • Mayer, August L. Velázquez: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Pictures and Drawings. London, 1936: 96, no. 411, pl. 138.

1937

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 9, 41-42, repro. facing 42, as by Velazquez.

  • Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82.

1940

  • Mayer, August L. Velázquez. Paris, 1940: 20.

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 207, no. 80, as by Diego Velázquez de Silva.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 216, as by Diego de Silva y Velázquez.

  • Sánchez Cantón, Francisco J. "Como vivía Velázquez: inventario descubierto por D.F. Rodríguez Marín." Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 15 (1942): 75, 81.

1943

  • Lafuente Ferrari, Enrique. Paintings and Drawings of Velázquez: Complete Edition. London and New York, 1943: 27, no. 97, pl. 122.

1944

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 78, color repro., as by Velazquez.

1945

  • Cook 1945, 76-78, fig. 7.

  • Soria, Martin S. Review of The Paintings and Drawings of Velázquez by Enrique Lafuente Ferrari. In The Art Bulletin 27 (September, 1945): 214.

1948

  • López-Rey, José. Review of Archivo Español de Arte (1940-1946). In Gazette des Beaux-Arts 33 (January-June 1948): 60.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 44, repro.

1955

  • Pantorba, Bernardino de [José López Jiménez]. La vida y la obra de Velázquez: estudio biográfico crítico. Madrid, 1955: 178-180, no. 99, fig. 99.

1956

  • Kapterewa, Tatjana. Velázquez und die spanische Porträtmalerie. Leipzig, 1956: 93, fig. 98.

1957

  • Gerstenberg, Kurt. Diego Velázquez. Würzburg, 1957: 155-156, repro. 153, no. 138.

1958

  • Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 324-325, no. 2861.

  • Harris, Enriqueta. "Velázquez en Roma." Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 31 (1958): 187.

1960

  • Walker, John. "Velázquez and Visualistic Painting." In Varia Velázqueña. Madrid, 1960: 174.

  • Evans, Grose. Spanish Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Ten in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 28, color repro., as by Diego Velazquez de Silva.

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 26, repro., as by Velazquez.

1963

  • López-Rey, José. Velázquez: A Catalogue Raisonné of His Oeuvre. London, 1963: 274-275, no. 448, pl. 360.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 166, repro.

1964

  • Camón Aznar, José. Velázquez. 2 vols. Madrid, 1964: 2:730, 940, 1005, repro. 730.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 134.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:206, color repro., as by Velázquez.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture: Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 121, repro.

  • López-Rey, José. Velázquez' Work and World. London, 1958: 126.

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 13-14, 121-122, color repro.

1969

  • Asturias, M.A., and P.M. Bardi. L'opera completa di Velázquez. Milan, 1969: 107a, repro.

1973

  • Crombie, Theodore. "The Legacy of Victoria: Spanish Paintings at Apsley House." Apollo 98 (September, 1973): 213.

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 23, 27 repro.

1974

  • Gudiol y Ricart, José. Velázquez: 1559-1660. Translated by Kenneth Lyons. New York, 1974: 267, 281, 337, no. 137, fig. 207.

  • Hendy, Philip. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Boston, 1974: 272-273.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 360, repro.

1979

  • López-Rey, José. Velázquez; the Artist as Maker. Lausanne and Paris, 1979: 128.

  • McKim-Smith, Gridley. "On Velázquez's Working Method." The Art Bulletin 61, no. 4 (December 1979): 594-597.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 247, no. 314, color repro, as by Diego Velazquez.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 418, repro.

1986

  • Brown, Jonathan. Velázquez, Painter and Courtier. New Haven and London, 1986: 297, n. 24.

1990

  • Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 124-127, repro. 123.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 171, no. 131, color repro.

2009

  • Odom, Anne, and Wendy R. Salmond, eds. Treasures into Tractors: The Selling of Russia's Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938. Washington, D.C., 2009: 91, 96, 97, 99, 135 n. 62.

2013

  • Semyonova, Natalya, and Nicolas V. Iljine, eds. Selling Russia's Treasures: The Soviet Trade in Nationalized Art 1917-1938. New York and London, 2013: 138, 139, 180, repro.

2016

  • Jaques, Susan. The Empress of Art: Catherine the Great and the Transformation of Russia. New York, 2016: 397, color fig.

Wikidata ID

Q20177335

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