Follower of VELÁZQUEZ; end of the XIX century.

Follower of VELÁZQUEZ; late 19th century.
"Philip IV.
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 63 x 49 cm; 79 x 66 cm (frame).
The work is a version of the well-known portrait of Philip IV of advanced age, painted by Velázquez and preserved in the Prado Museum. The brilliant painter presents the king soberly dressed in black, as was customary for the monarch and the high nobility of the time, with a somewhat melancholy expression and cheeks somewhat sunken by age. The king, who had always sought veracity in his portraits, upon seeing himself thus effigied, on his way to old age, seems to have exclaimed that this would be the last portrait that would be made of him. It is, in fact, an image of the monarch that has become iconic, since it was widely used by other artists of the time, becoming the official image of the end of the reign of Philip IV. Velázquez concentrates all the attention on the face and expression, dispensing with the marks of power and the elements that denote sumptuousness and wealth (draperies, furniture, jewelry), so common in Baroque portraiture. The artist thus achieves a work of great psychological depth.