The intruder and the jealous

The contest

Velázquez, The Triumph of Bacchus, 1629

Madrid, 1623. A young 24 year old painter called Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, was invited to join Philip IV’s Court, who was by then 18 years old.

Velázquez, Philip IV, 1623

Seville was too little  for  Velázquez: there were too many high level painters, Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Sebastián de Llanos, Francisco Herrera; too many to make a name and receive commissions. His father-in-law, Francisco Pacheco, tried in every possible way to get Diego into the Court as painter and the fact that the Count-Duke of Olivares, who had Andalucian family, got to be the King’s right-hand man was key.

The Court’s painters were, at that moment, Eugenio Cajés, Vicente Carducho, Bartolomé González, Santiago Morán y Rodrigo de Villandrado. This last one died by 1622 and his position got soon available waiting for a new painter to be member of the Court. Pacheco and the Count of Olivares move quickly. Velázquez was called to join the Court and was commissioned a portrait of the King.

Velázquez, Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV, 1634

The King was as young as Velázquez and between them a new friendship started that was only interrupted by the painter’s death. Of course their friendship was limited for the Spanish Empire’s Sovereign status.

Could the rest of artists beat the freshman’s talents? Could they please the artistic tastes of the King? No. They could not.

Velázquez was soon considered an intruder, a competitor they could not beat. The most affected one was undoubtedly Vicente Carducho, of whom we have already talked some time. He was Italian and had gone to Spain with his brother Bartolomé in order to paint the frescoes of El Escorial. He entered the Court with Philip III and he represented a kind of conservative painting. In his Diálogos de la Pintura (1633) attacks Velázquez without naming him. He thought that artists should embellish nature, and Diego painted the Court’s dwarfs and jesters as they were. Artists should work in proper terms, that’d feed the spirit, and Diego painted drunkards.

Carducho, The Expulsion of the Moriscos,
1627

To conclude with these inner quarrels, the King announces a new painting contest in the Court. The topic would be The Expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. Velázquez, Carducho, Cajés and Nardi took part in it. Guess who won. Of course, Velázquez. We will never know if the jury favored him because the rewarded painting got burnt in 1734 in the fire of the Alcázar. There is only a sketch by Carducho left.

Velázquez, The Surrender of Breda, 1634

Clarely, none of this ended the issue, since in 1663, the King put them back together in the same project: decorating the Hall of the Kingdoms of the Buen Retiro Palace. All of them were assigned the same room, and the same theme: the victories of Spanish Monarchy. There would be no jury, which meant that all of them would keep an eye on the opinion of any who looked at them. Velázquez presented 6 paintings for this hall, such as, The Surrender of Breda. 

Carducho, Socorro de la Plaza de Constanza, 1633

Carducho painted three; Cajés, two. There, we could also find: J.B. Maíno, J. Leonardo, F. Castelo, A. de Pereda and Zurbarán with the cycle of Hercules. (Zurbarán was in Seville and was not part of the Court: did Velázquez help him out a bit?) The Surrender of Breda is the only historical painting left by the Sevillian painter. The expulsion of the moriscos was lost, but with this one we can now compare his mastery with his competitors’… I think that, although so many centuries have passed and artistic taste has changed so much, it’s undoubtedly known who the master is…

Carducho, Asedio y toma de Rheinfelden, 1633

This let Velázquez confirm that, despite all the critics by those who were jealous and the conservatives, he could paint about decent topics, as the historical genre.

And Carducho? He had plenty more commissions. Since ever he left Seville, Velázquez had quit painting religious artworks, and Carducho was ready for them. Meanwhile, Velázquez would work on the Court’s portraits, and also, why not, improper topics: still lives, drunkards, dwarves.

Fuentes: Bennasar, B. Velázquez. Vida. Madrid, Cátedra, 2012;

 Carducho, Diálogos de la pintura.Valladolid, Maxtor, 2011;

Hubala, E. Die Kunst des 17. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, Propyläen  Verlag, 1990

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