Don Diego de Guevara

Spanish, died 1520

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Shown from the chest up, a clean-shaven, pale-skinned man holds one hand to his chest and rests the other on a rug-covered ledge with the other in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body is angled to our left, and he looks down in that direction with dark eyes under thick brows. Crow’s feet crinkle at the corners of his eyes, and there are dark hollows underneath. Soft jowls hang to create a slight double chin. His thin lips are set in a line over a wide, round chin, which is darkened with a five o’clock shadow. He has chin-length, reddish-blond hair, and straight, wispy bangs sweep loosely across his high forehead. He wears a white chemise under a gold, brocade garment, which is mostly hidden by a slate-blue cloak. The cloak is lined with spotted fur, which is turned over to create a wide collar across his shoulders. The sleeve on his left arm, to our right and closer to us, splits over a dusky-pink sleeve. Two gold buttons on the cloak there are decorated with thistle plants and blossoms. The fingers of his right hand, to our left, are gathered like a closed rose bud at his chest. He wears a gold ring on the index finger of the other hand, which rests on the end of the gray stone ledge so his fingertips brush the tapestry draped there. The man is lit from our left against a black background.
Michel Sittow, Portrait of Diego de Guevara (?), c. 1515/1518, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.46

Portrait of Diego de Guevara (?)

Michel Sittow · c. 1515/1518 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.46

Bibliography

1788

  • Guevara, Don Felipe de. Comentarios de la Pintura. Edited by Antonio Ponz. [Written c. 1560-63] Madrid, 1788.

1876

  • Gachard, Louis Prosper. Collection des voyages des souverains des Pays-Bas. 4 vols. Brussels, 1876-1882: I.

1967

  • Steppe, J.K. "Jheronimus Bosch. Bijdrage tot de historische en ikonografische studie van zijn werk." Jheronimus Bosch. Bijdragen bij gelegenheid van de herdenkstentoonstelling te 's-Hertogenbosch. Eindhoven, 1967: 14, 39

1982

  • Steppe, J.K. "Het overbrengen van het hart van Filips de Schone van Burgos naar de Nederlanden in 1506-1507." Biekorf. Westvlaams Archief. 82 (1982): 218

1986

  • Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolfe. Early Netherlandish Paintings. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1986: 230-36.