A portrait of the monarch with 23 years painted by the Flemish artist goes on sale at an auction in Madrid – El Pueblo Salto

The government raised eligible for purchase by its heritage value.
Spaniards may look for nine days at a young Felipe IV in the eye. At least, the only portrait of the king painted by Rubens that
preserved. The painting will go on sale Saturday, under Feriarte, art and antique shows that the Madrid Ifema Fairgrounds will host between that day and on 29 November. The work, which has reappeared after puúblicamente not have heard from her for 50 years, belongs to a private collection. Its current owners have put up for sale, although the State may exercise its right of first refusal over the next six months for the oil does not leave Spain. And, because of its importance, “it is not ruled out that the Government and the Prado Museum opt to purchase” El Pais said yesterday the Secretary of State for Culture, Jose Maria Lassalle.
Portrait, Peter Paul Rubens painted in 1628-1629, and was lost over two and a half centuries since the death of the painter in Antwerp in 1640 until the picture came to light in the early twentieth century. Then he lost track in the sixties.
The work can not be exported temporarily, according to the Board of Classification, Valuation and Export of Historical Heritage Assets. From a report of the Prado, the Board has requested that the painting be included within any of the categories of special protection. The news of the resurrection of the canvas, advanced yesterday by La Vanguardia, a series of recent reports from the art world, including powers or doubts about the authorship of great creators is added (like the one now doubts that Bosch has He painted The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things del Prado), and the figure reached last week at an auction lying naked, Modigliani, by a Chinese collector paid 158 million euros.
will bid the state?
The question now is whether the Spanish State bid for this piece of 63.5 centimeters high by 49 wide. The owners, who remain anonymous, have not revealed the asking price. There are several copies of the work, one in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, and some more in private collections such as that possessed by the House of Alba.
The importance of this original Felipe IV “is not only the value of the work itself, but also what is out of the picture, the history surrounding it when it was created, “says Mercè Ros, responsible for putting on sale this Rubens and who has made him known, following an investigation one year. Ros is an art historian, expert witness, appraiser, consultant and owner of collectors Madrid gallery that bears his name.
The oil reached the gallery. A year ago, few people called her to say he had a box, were convinced it was a Rubens and wanted to sell. “I researched the history of the painting and confirmed its originality,” says Ros this newspaper. Their journey is twofold: why Rubens painting and the time of its creation and the grim fate that seems to accompany the portrait. When Rubens (1577-1640) was already the great Rubens and Velázquez (1599-1660) on his way to being the genius Velázquez, the Flemish artist painted came to Madrid and Philip IV. The monarch was 23 and the tables had been made of him showed young and timid. In the hands of Rubens he became adult and majesty won.
Hidden
work the painter traveled to Spain to petition the king, seeking information from the peace negotiations between Spain and the Netherland. During his stay, between 1628 and 1629, he asked a portrait. The artist painted several, three were burnt in 1734, including an equestrian portrait of the monarch was the favorite
long portrait bust goes on sale, the light falls on the face of Felipe IV as gone. the gloom of a curtain. Poses some sideways, staring straight ahead, incipient mustache and goatee; wears the Golden Fleece. Rubens painted on wood, material used for his most ambitious compositions. The Flemish master liked the work of Velázquez, remember Ros and advised him to go to Italy to continue its preparation. When Rubens part to Antwerp in 1629, Velázquez does the same, toward the Alpine country. From there he returned to enter the Olympus of the arts.
“What is not clear is whether Rubens painted this picture in Madrid or in Antwerp,” says the historian. All indications are that he did in the Flemish city to be in a table; from it all other copies were made. At death, the author inventory left, but not heard from him until the early twentieth century, when it reappeared in the hands of a family of Kent (England), which it bought the British HM Clark. During his tenure, in the twenties, the historian August L. Mayer and stared up at the Burlington Magazine.