Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo | |
|---|---|
 Family of the Painter, c. 1660–1665, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria | |
| Born | Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo c. 1612 Cuenca, Spain |
| Died | February 10, 1667 (aged 54–55) Madrid, Spain |
| Known for | Painting |
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (c.1612 – February 10, 1667) was a Spanish Baroque portrait and landscape painter, the most distinguished of the followers of his father-in-law Velázquez, whose style he imitated more closely than did any other artist.[1] 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 del Mazo's early life. The date and place of his birth are uncertain. Apparently, he was born in Cuenca, as his parents, Hernando Martínez 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.[2]
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. Del 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.[2] 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 del Mazo his position of Usher of the King's Chamber, with the permission of the King. From this it can be assumed that del 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 del Mazo's career with a steady hand and secured palace appointments for him and later for del Mazo's children.
Early career
In 1643, Mazo became Master of Drawing and personal painter of the heir to the Spanish Crown,
Mazo first expressed his talent copying works of Venetian masters in the royal collections, such as
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,
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
Personal style
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.[1]
Mazo's palette was rather like that of Velázquez, except for a penchant often shown for stressing blue or bluish tints.[1] 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.[1] As a counterbalance, an explicit, even emphatic, perspective design marks out the spatial confines of the composition, making it appear squarish.[1] 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.[1] These stylistic traits reveal Mazo's own personality as an artist.[1] For centuries, Mazo's paintings were attributed to Velázquez, but modern art criticism, techniques, and knowledge have been able to separate their works.
Among his pupils was Benito Manuel Agüero (1626–1672).
Official Court Painter
As long as Velázquez lived, Mazo wrought all of his art in his father-in-law's studio. After Velázquez's death in 1660,
Descendants
Mazo's first wife, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco (1619–1658), gave him six 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 María Teresa Martínez 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
Notes
Bibliography
- López- Rey, José, Velázquez, Taschen, 1999. ISBN 3-8228-6533-8.
- Mallory, Nina A, El Greco to Murillo: Spanish painting in the Golden Age, 1556–1700 , Icon Editions,1990. ISBN 0-06-435531-4.
- Madrazo, Pedro de (1872). Catálogo Descriptivo e Histórico del Museo del Prado de Madrid (Parte Primera: Escuelas Italianas y Españolas). Calle del Duque de Osuna #3; Original from Oxford University, Digitized May 1, 2007: M. Rivadeneyra. pp. 442–444.
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External links
- Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo on Artcyclopedia
- Velázquez , an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on del Mazo (see index)
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