Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo
Encyclopedia
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (c.1612 – 10 February 1667)
was a Spanish
Baroque
portrait and landscape painter, the most distinguished of the followers of Velázquez
, whose style he imitated more closely than did any other artist. A fine painter himself, Mazo was a master of landscape, as proven by his most celebrated work View of Saragossa.
, as his parents, Hernando Martinez and Lucia Bueno del Mazo, were from that province. However, some sources consider Madrid as his native city. The date of his birth has been estimated around 1612 since it is known that his mother was born in 1596 and he married in 1633 when he probably was in his early twenties.
The whereabouts of his training remain a mystery. He must have been in Velázquez's workshop sometimes before his marriage, so it is quite possible that he had been his future father-in-law's apprentice. Mazo married the famous painter’s only surviving daughter, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco, on August 21, 1633, at the Church of Santiago in Madrid. Philip IV
and the Prime Minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares
, served as the couple’s sponsors. The marriage was the event that guaranteed Mazo’s future success at Court. Velázquez immediately arranged a royal appointment and on February 23, 1634, he transferred to Mazo his position of Usher of the King’s Chamber, with the permission of the King. From this it can be assumed that Mazo was then already a disciple of the famous painter, and from that date he was closely associated with his father-in-law with whom he lived and collaborated. Velázquez furthered Mazo's career with a steady hand and secured palace appointments for him and later for Mazo’s children.
In 1643, Mazo became Master of Drawing and personal painter of the heir to the Spanish Crown, Baltasar Carlos, Prince of Asturias
, who in 1645 became godfather of his fifth child. Prince Baltasar Carlos commissioned him to copy hunt scenes by Paul de Vos
, Rubens, Jordaens and other Flemish painters. Mazo accompanied the prince to Aragón in 1646. During this trip, he painted the famous View of Saragossa and a last portrait of the young prince who died unexpectedly at the age of sixteen. After the death of the prince, Philip IV decreed that the perquisites that Mazo had been receiving be continued, and kept him employed as a painter.
Mazo first expressed his talent copying works of Venetian masters in the royal collections, such as Tintoretto
, Titian
, and Paul Veronese, a task that he performed with assiduity and success. His colorful work as a copyist opened his way to the secrets of the great masters of his time, especially Rubens and Jordaens
. Such copies must have considerably cut down the time available for his original work, as did the production of replicas of Velázquez's royal portraits that he painted; an example would be his portrait of Infanta Margaret Theresa
that today is exhibited next to the Velázquez original in a Viennese museum. Nevertheless, Mazo still felt free to follow his own bent for brilliancy of execution and true-to-life naturalism.
Mazo rarely signed his works, which furthered the confusion with the work of Velázquez, making it difficult to separate the authorship of their paintings. In fact, there are few extant paintings that scholars agree are his; these include View of Saragossa (1646, Prado
); Portrait of Queen Mariana in Mourning Dress (1666, National Gallery
, London
); and The Family of the Painter (c. 1660-1665, Kunsthistorisches Museum
, Vienna
). He has some of his works in the Prado
, near those of his mentor.
Although Mazo acquired great skills as a portrait painter, some of his most interesting works are hunting pieces and landscapes in which he developed a more personal style with a respect for reality. They are animated with a multitude of figures treated with extreme detail. His landscapes are works of great observation as exemplified by his paintings View of Saragossa and Stag Hunt at Aranjuez - both were commissioned by Philip IV
. He also painted some still lifes. In 1657 Mazo traveled to Italy trying to recover the dowry of his eldest daughter Ines who had become a widow in Naples
. During this trip, Mazo painted The Arch of Tito that shows the influence of Roman landscapes.
Mazo’s works owe credit above all to Velázquez, whose style he was long compelled to emulate in Court portraits. However, Mazo shows in his paintings a personality of his own. His portraits exhibit startling naturalism and marvelous execution. Mazo was particularly skillful in painting small figures, a cardinal element in both his hunting scenes and the landscapes he painted as in his most celebrated work View of Saragossa.
Mazo’s palette
was rather like that of Velázquez, except for a penchant often shown for stressing blue or bluish tints. The departure from his master's style is reflected in his way of shaping people and things by highlights which flash the pictorial image towards the surface of the painting, even from the background. As a counterbalance, an explicit, even emphatic, perspective design marks out the spatial confines of the composition, making it appear squarish. A further departure from Velázquez is his luxurious depiction of detail or incident which he achieved with brilliant, depthless strokes, whether on the figure of a sitter, a curtain on a wall, a floor, the surface of a river, or on plain earthen grounds. These stylistic traits reveal Mazo’s own personality as an artist. For centuries, Mazo’s paintings were attributed to Velázquez, but modern art criticism, techniques, and knowledge have been able to separate their works.
As long as Velázquez lived, Mazo wrought all of his art in his father-in-law's studio. After Velázquez's death in 1660, Philip IV
appointed him as the official Court painter
on April 19, 1661, while his son Gaspar took his former position as Usher to the Chamber. At the death of Philip IV
in 1665, Mazo kept his position at Court under the regency of Queen Mariana
, whose portrait in mourning dress (National Gallery
, London, 1666) is one of his few signed works. In this period, he painted a portrait of Infanta Margarita Teresa, also in mourning dress, before she left Spain to marry the Austrian Emperor. Mazo held his position as official Court painter until his death in Madrid on February 9, 1667.
, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
, King Albert II of Belgium
, Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
, and Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
.
was a Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
portrait and landscape painter, the most distinguished of the followers of Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, whose style he imitated more closely than did any other artist. A fine painter himself, Mazo was a master of landscape, as proven by his most celebrated work View of Saragossa.
Life
Little is really known about Mazo’s early life. The date and place of his birth are uncertain. Apparently, he was born in CuencaCuenca (province)
Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear...
, as his parents, Hernando Martinez and Lucia Bueno del Mazo, were from that province. However, some sources consider Madrid as his native city. The date of his birth has been estimated around 1612 since it is known that his mother was born in 1596 and he married in 1633 when he probably was in his early twenties.
The whereabouts of his training remain a mystery. He must have been in Velázquez's workshop sometimes before his marriage, so it is quite possible that he had been his future father-in-law's apprentice. Mazo married the famous painter’s only surviving daughter, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco, on August 21, 1633, at the Church of Santiago in Madrid. Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
and the Prime Minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar, Count-Duke of Olivares and Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor , was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip IV and minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform...
, served as the couple’s sponsors. The marriage was the event that guaranteed Mazo’s future success at Court. Velázquez immediately arranged a royal appointment and on February 23, 1634, he transferred to Mazo his position of Usher of the King’s Chamber, with the permission of the King. From this it can be assumed that Mazo was then already a disciple of the famous painter, and from that date he was closely associated with his father-in-law with whom he lived and collaborated. Velázquez furthered Mazo's career with a steady hand and secured palace appointments for him and later for Mazo’s children.
Early career
Baltasar Carlos, Prince of Asturias
|align=right|...
, who in 1645 became godfather of his fifth child. Prince Baltasar Carlos commissioned him to copy hunt scenes by Paul de Vos
Paul de Vos
Paul de Vos was a Flemish Baroque painter.De Vos was born in Hulst near Antwerp, now in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Like his older brother Cornelis and younger brother Jan, he studied under the little-known painter David Remeeus...
, Rubens, Jordaens and other Flemish painters. Mazo accompanied the prince to Aragón in 1646. During this trip, he painted the famous View of Saragossa and a last portrait of the young prince who died unexpectedly at the age of sixteen. After the death of the prince, Philip IV decreed that the perquisites that Mazo had been receiving be continued, and kept him employed as a painter.
Mazo first expressed his talent copying works of Venetian masters in the royal collections, such as Tintoretto
Tintoretto
Tintoretto , real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso...
, Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, and Paul Veronese, a task that he performed with assiduity and success. His colorful work as a copyist opened his way to the secrets of the great masters of his time, especially Rubens and Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
. Such copies must have considerably cut down the time available for his original work, as did the production of replicas of Velázquez's royal portraits that he painted; an example would be his portrait of Infanta Margaret Theresa
Margaret Theresa of Spain
Margaret Theresa of Spain was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess consort of Austria, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia. She was the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and his second wife Mariana of Austria...
that today is exhibited next to the Velázquez original in a Viennese museum. Nevertheless, Mazo still felt free to follow his own bent for brilliancy of execution and true-to-life naturalism.
Mazo rarely signed his works, which furthered the confusion with the work of Velázquez, making it difficult to separate the authorship of their paintings. In fact, there are few extant paintings that scholars agree are his; these include View of Saragossa (1646, Prado
Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of...
); Portrait of Queen Mariana in Mourning Dress (1666, National Gallery
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
); and The Family of the Painter (c. 1660-1665, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
). He has some of his works in the Prado
Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of...
, near those of his mentor.
Although Mazo acquired great skills as a portrait painter, some of his most interesting works are hunting pieces and landscapes in which he developed a more personal style with a respect for reality. They are animated with a multitude of figures treated with extreme detail. His landscapes are works of great observation as exemplified by his paintings View of Saragossa and Stag Hunt at Aranjuez - both were commissioned by Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
. He also painted some still lifes. In 1657 Mazo traveled to Italy trying to recover the dowry of his eldest daughter Ines who had become a widow in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. During this trip, Mazo painted The Arch of Tito that shows the influence of Roman landscapes.
Personal Style
Mazo’s palette
Palette (painting)
A palette , in the original sense of the word, is a rigid, flat surface on which a painter arranges and mixes paints. A palette is usually made of wood, plastic, ceramic, or other hard, inert, nonporous material, and can vary greatly in size and shape...
was rather like that of Velázquez, except for a penchant often shown for stressing blue or bluish tints. The departure from his master's style is reflected in his way of shaping people and things by highlights which flash the pictorial image towards the surface of the painting, even from the background. As a counterbalance, an explicit, even emphatic, perspective design marks out the spatial confines of the composition, making it appear squarish. A further departure from Velázquez is his luxurious depiction of detail or incident which he achieved with brilliant, depthless strokes, whether on the figure of a sitter, a curtain on a wall, a floor, the surface of a river, or on plain earthen grounds. These stylistic traits reveal Mazo’s own personality as an artist. For centuries, Mazo’s paintings were attributed to Velázquez, but modern art criticism, techniques, and knowledge have been able to separate their works.
Official Court Painter
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
appointed him as the official Court painter
Court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre...
on April 19, 1661, while his son Gaspar took his former position as Usher to the Chamber. At the death of Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
in 1665, Mazo kept his position at Court under the regency of Queen Mariana
Mariana of Austria
Mariana of Austria was Queen consort of Spain as the second wife of King Philip IV, who was also her maternal uncle...
, whose portrait in mourning dress (National Gallery
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
, London, 1666) is one of his few signed works. In this period, he painted a portrait of Infanta Margarita Teresa, also in mourning dress, before she left Spain to marry the Austrian Emperor. Mazo held his position as official Court painter until his death in Madrid on February 9, 1667.
Descendants
Mazo's first wife, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco (1619–1658), gave him seven children; she died shortly after the last child was born. His second wife, Francisca de La Vega, shown in his painting The Family of the Painter, died in 1665; they had four sons. His third wife was his sister-in-law, Ana de la Vega, who survived him and remarried. Through his daughter Maria Teresa Martinez del Mazo y Velázquez (1648–1692), he is an ancestor of the Marquesses of Monteleone, including Enriquetta (Henrietta) Casado de Monteleone (1725–1761) who in 1746 married Heinrich VI, Count Reuss zu Köstritz (1707–1783). Through them are descended a number of European royalty, among them Queen Sofía of Spain, Queen Beatrix of the NetherlandsBeatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...
, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf is the reigning King of Sweden since 15 September 1973, succeeding his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf because his father had predeceased him...
, King Albert II of Belgium
Albert II of Belgium
Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
, Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II , is the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein. He is the son of Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein and his wife Countess Georgina von Wilczek . He also bears the titles Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf, Count of Rietberg...
, and Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg OIH is the head of state of Luxembourg. He is the eldest son of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. His maternal grandparents were King Leopold III of Belgium and Astrid of Sweden...
.