Rodrigo de Villandrando villandrando died in Madrid in 1622

Only a small number of paintings survive by Rodrigo de Villandrando, about whom relatively little is known. He was a pupil of Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (1553 - 1608), whose style his work closely assimilates, and was employed as a portrait painter at the court of Philip III, along with Bartolomé González (1564 - 1627) and Pedro Vidal (active circa 1570 - 1617). In 1621 he was appointed to the distinguished position of Ugier de Cámara to Philip IV, whose portrait by Villandrando is today in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (see J.M. Ortega Calderón, Todo el Prado, Madrid 1996, p. 89, reproduced plate 261).

The present work can be compared closely to Villandrando's Portrait of Philip IV in the Prado, both in handling and overall type. It shares in common the artist's remarkable attention to detail in the drapery, the distinctive chiaroscuro lighting, and a similar pose to the sitter (albeit reversed in this case), with his hand similarly resting on his sword and a plumed hat placed upon a table to his side. The style of the present portrait marks the transition between the archaic style introduced in Madrid by Anthonis Mor during the mid-16th century and the arrival of the new manner of Velázquez, who succeeded Villandrando as court painter following the artist's premature death in Madrid by December 1622.

The precise identification of the present sitter has yet to be established. It has been suggested that he might be identifiable with a nephew of Philip III, one of the sons of Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy, who married the Infanta Doña Catalina Micaela, daughter of King Philip II, and who visited the court around 1603. By comparison with contemporary prints it seems that the most likely candidates are Philip Emanuel (1586 - 1605), Victor Amadeus (1587 - 1637) and Maurice (1593 - 1657) - see Los Austrias. Grabados de la Biblioteca Nacional, exhibition catalogue, Madrid 1993, p. 240).

The attribution to Rodrigo de Villandrando has been endorsed by Professor Alfonso Pérez Sánchez, upon the basis of a photograph.