Jorge de la Rúa Active circa 1552 - 1578

Possibly acquired by Edward Hyde (1609-1674), 1st Earl of Clarendon (according to Gibson, see Literature);
Possibly Lord Hyde, by 1750, when recorded in his inventory as 'Gentleman, on panel';
Thence by descent.

R. Gibson, Catalogue of Portraits in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon, London 1977, p. 104, no. 114, reproduced.

The catalogue illustration is representative. The support consists of three uncradled oak panels, the joins running just to the right of the sitter's head and just to the right of his ear. These are held by two modern butterfly battens set into the back of the panel. The panel is bevelled on all four edges but the top edge may have been slightly trimmed. The paint surface is now very dirty and covered with a thick layer of discoloured and degraded varnish. Beneath this the paint surface appears to be very well preserved and in very good condition. Ultra violet light reveals only minor old repairs along the joins and to various details of the costume, and some scattered local retouchings. There is a small repaired damage of 2 x 1 cm. on the collar and a small loss just to the right of this. This lot is offered with a carved and gilt wood frame, some chips and minor damage. RCJ
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This work has been traditionally identified as the work of Willem Key and appears as such in Gibson's catalogue of the portraits in the collection of the Earl of Clarendon, although it seems that this is based upon a somewhat inventive reading of the inscription on the reverse.¹  Recent research and analysis however leads to a rejection of the attribution to Key and points instead to an artist working in the southern courts of Spain, Portugal or Italy. Gibson also identifies the sitter as Perari di Cremona, again on his reading of the inscription, but found no reference to such a personality. However, it may be that the inscription has become more illegible since 1977; an attribution to an artist working in the courts of northern Italy, in or around Cremona, should not therefore be discounted.

The attribution to Jorge de la Rúa is due to Dr. Maria Kusche on the basis of photographs. Jorge de la Rúa was a native of Ghent, where he was known as Iooris van Gent and Joris van der Straeten.  He led a peripatetic life which took him first to Portugal, where he painted Joao de Portugal in 1552.²  His style at this point is very close to that of Antonio Moro who he presumably would have known since they were both at the Portuguese court in 1552, Moro having been there since 1550; compare, for example, the present work with Moro's portrait of Philip II of  circa 1550 in Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes.³  Jorge is recorded in 1556 as portraitist to the Portuguese court and, in that year, he painted a portrait of Principe Don Sebastián.  If the date inscribed on the reverse of this panel is original, the present work must have been executed in the same year and must portray a member of the Portuguese court or nobility.  Jorge then seems to have worked for Philip II before moving to France and working at the court of Queen Isabella of Austria where a 'Georges van der Straeten' is recorded in 1572 as 'Peintre de la Reine'; his 1573 portrait of the Queen is his only signed work and is now in Madrid, Descalzas Reales.⁴  He is last documented in 1578 working in France for the Duc de Nevers, as Maestre Georges.

For further information on the artist please see M. Kusche, Retratos y Retratadores, Madrid 2003, pp. 139-162.

1  The inscription is said to read: 'PERARI DECREMONA./ KEYE PINXIT/ A^o 1556.' Despite this interpretation of the inscription and the subsequent attribution to Key, the author does state that 'the portrait is not typical of Key's little known work'.
2  According to Kusche, for which see M. Kusche, Retratos y Retratadores, Madrid 2003, p. 142, reproduced fig. 114.
3  Op. cit, p. 144, reproduced fig. 115.
4  Op. cit., p. 141, reproduced fig. 113.