DIEGO VELAZQUEZ : SANTA RUFINA

Is this picture representing Santa Rufina, the martyr patron of the city of Seville (Spain) a real Velazquez or some painting by the Velazquez School ? Don't ask the people from Seville because if you doubt its provenance they will kill you. To keep in their beloved city their beloved Santa they followed last year the lead of the Duchess of Alba (yes the same family as the infamous Duke who slaughtered the Dutch Protestants in the 16th century) who gave $1500 to a campaign in favor of the purchase of this picture that was put on auction by Sotheyby's in 2007 as a Velazquez (made in 1628-29).

Sevillans poured money to a special fund created to help the Focus-Abengoa Foundation to get hold of the picture. And it did for the princely sum of $ 17 million. So the Sevillans would be really pissed off if you raised some serious doubts about its authenticity. Nevertheless it is exactly what did some experts just after the last bid at the auction. They pointed to the poor quality of the light on the picture, to the lousy drawing of the right hand of the Santa, to her missing left arm and to the lack of facial features and so on.

In 1990 the Santa had been sold by Christie's as a Velazquez to an unknown buyer for $ 8.9 million. Even at this time the attribution was questioned. Seventeen years later, the lucky buyer of the 90s found more enthusiastic people to pass the Santa on and pocketed a huge profit.

In the end everybody was happy, the initial acquirer of the 90s who doubled his money, the city and the people of Sevilla who got their Santa and Christie's people who took their fee. It would be interesting to know what Velazquez in his grave makes of this sale : a fake or a genuine painting ? Leave a comment to tell me what you think....

Velázquez (or Velásquez), Diego (1599-1660). Spain's greatest painter was also one of the supreme artists of all time. A master of technique, highly individual in style, Diego Velasquez may have had a greater influence on European art than any other painter.

Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velasquez was born in Seville, Spain, presumably shortly before his baptism on June 6, 1599. His father was of noble Portuguese descent. In his teens he studied art with Francisco Pacheco, whose daughter he married. The young Velasquez once declared, "I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art."

An other Velazquez, Antonio Gonzalez, earned a century later (1723-1793) a reputation as one of the most talented Spanish painters of his generation. In 1746 he was awarded a grant from the committee of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando to study the Old Masters in Rome, and was appointed to the workshop of Corrado Giaquinto.

He also painted several decorative works for the Palacio Real, and was appointed Court Painter by King Fernando VI of Spain in 1756, who admired the artist's characteristic freedom of execution and brilliant use of colour.

However it would be a mistake to think that his work can fetch the same prices as the ones of his more famous predecessor. In July 2008, this Pentecost: a bozzetto * -an oil on canvas 19 x 15 1/8 in. (48.3 x 38.4 cm.)- fetched only $ 20,995 on auction in London whereas it had been estimated to make between $ 15,000 and 23,000.

*Bozzetto (s., bozzetti, pl.) is a specific type of study or sketch. To be a bozzetto the study and a resultant finished work (inspired by the bozzetto) must be done in the same medium. Bozzetti are generally small : they can be just sketches, exploratory in their character or they can be complete visual statements- a genuine artwork complete with an innate aesthetic.

DIEGO VELAZQUEZ : JUAN DE PAREJA

This picture, an oil on canvas (37x27.5 ins.), was painted by Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) while he was in Italy where he was unknown. He was there only because the King of Spain Philip IV wanted him to buy pictures there, and also paint the Pope. He chose as his subject his assistant and friend, Juan de Pareja, technically his slave. Velazquez sent him free later. Pareja was a Sevillian of Moorish descent of "an odd color" but on the picture he seems full of confidence and almost the equal of his master which he in some ways he was.

Velazquez began to study at the age of 10 under Francisco de Herrera and left him at age 12. By the early 1620s, his position and reputation were assured in Seville. Velazquez died in August 1660 and was buried in the vault of the church of San Juan Bautista. Within eight days his wife Juana was buried beside him. Unfortunately this church was destroyed by the occupying French of Napoleon in 1811, so his place of interment has vanished.

It is after this painting which was exhibited in Rome on March 19, 1650 that Velazquez did the famous portrait of Innocent X, one of Velazquez's many masterpieces, which the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been unable to secure. In 1801, this picture had been sold for 39 Guineas by Christie's auction house that was established by James Christie in 1776 in London. It was then part of the collection of Sir William Hamilton, British Minister in Naples. Hamilton had left when the French were at the gates of the city and took with him his "Portrait of Juan de Pareja".

At auction, sir William got only 39 Guineas for his beloved Velazquez. In 1811, it was acquired by the 2rd Earl of Radnor for £ 151 14s. 5d. In 1970 it was still in the property of the 8th Earl of Radnor, a non easy going character, who was persuaded to sell it. The sale of such a masterpiece was in itself a challenge. People in the art world was talking of an appraisal of about 1 million pounds. A sum never seen so far in the small world of international art. In 1970 only American museums could possibly envision such expenses and the National Gallery London wanted it desperately.

After much discussion, it was decided that the sale by auction would be the best solution. Needless to say that the sale attracted hundreds of amateurs, dealers and media people : the bidding started at 200,000 Guineas and took it up quite slowly. But step by step it passed the magical million level and the bidding became a war between art dealer Geoffrey Agnew and a young man in his early 30s whom nobody knew.

Up and up went the bid war until it passed 2 million Gns. The young man nodded gently, 2,2 million Gns. The autioneer knocked down his hammer to you.... Sir and there was a moment of panic. Who was this very young man ? Did he have the necessary funds to complete the most fabulous transaction of the Art World ? Then the young man approached the table and said he was Alec Wildenstein, son of Daniel Wildenstein, the most powerful art dealer in the world. People at Christie's sighed in relief. The Gallery Wildenstein had just bought for $ 5,5 million the famous Velazquez.

A year later, the Metropolitan Museum bought the Juan de Pareja for $ 5,6 million. Art prices have skyrocketed since the mid-1970s, and the picture could be expected to fetch easily ten times its purchase price today.