On Sight-Size Portraiture by Nicholas Beer

Author:Nicholas Beer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785002045
Publisher: Crowood

Pope Innocent X

During 1649, while in Italy buying pictures and sculptures for the Spanish Royal Collection, Velázquez was asked to paint a portrait of the Pope, Innocent X, with whom Velázquez was already acquainted because he had been papal nuncio in Madrid from 1626 to 1630. Based on the portraits of Julius II by Raphael and Paul III by Titian, the Pope is depicted seated in three-quarter-length format, looking directly at the viewer with a severe expression. Aged seventy-five at the time of sitting, Giovanni Battista Pamphilj was an impressive personality with a formidable reputation. The head is powerfully modelled in the manner of Titian with free brushwork that conveys keen intelligence and an awareness of self that comes with total authority. The hands too express restless energy; in his right he holds a piece of paper signed by Velázquez and a barely legible date of 1650. The warm red tonality unites the composition and contributes psychological tension and atmosphere.

To this day the painting hangs in the Villa Doria Pamphilj, the Pope’s family home in Rome. In his book Velasquez of 1899, R. A. M. Stevenson noted that when it was first displayed in 1650: ‘Velasquez, by the admission of all the artists in Rome, alone painted reality, the others, some decorative convention’, and it has been acknowledged as a masterpiece since. The sitter himself was initially somewhat more hesitant, describing it as troppo vero – ‘too real’ – but as a token of his appreciation he presented Velázquez with a gold medal showing the portrait in relief. Reynolds thought it the finest picture in Rome.

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