JUAN BAUTISTA MARTÍNEZ DEL MAZO | Portrait of Príncipe Don Felipe Próspero, Prince of Asturias (1657-1661), son of Philip IV of Spain, standing in an interior, his right hand resting on the back of a chair on which sits a pet dog

Sir John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane (1796–1862), Taymouth Castle (and possibly previously in his apartments at Holyrood House, Edinburgh);
By descent to his sister, Lady Elizabeth Pringle (d. 1878);
By descent to her daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Robert Baillie-Hamilton, Langton, Duns, near Berwick, Scotland (d. 1912);
By descent to her sister, Magdalen, Lady Bateson Harvey (d. 1913);
By descent to Lt.-Col. the Hon. Thomas George Breadalbane Morgan-Grenville-Gavin D.S.O., M.C. (the great-nephew by marriage of Sir Robert Bateson Harvey), Langton, Duns, Berwickshire;
His sale, London, Christie's, 27 March 1925, lot 169, for £48–6s. to R. Warner;
With Sackville Gallery, London;
With Duits Gallery, London, 1936;
Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (1878–1955), Florence;
Anonymous sale ('Property from a Private Collection'), London, Sotheby's, 6 December 2007, lot 247;
Where acquired by the present owner.

A. de Beruete, Velázquez, London 1906, p. 161;
W. Gensel, Velázquez, Stuttgart 1913, p. 221;
A.L. Mayer, Diego Velázquez, Berlin 1924, cat. no. 305, reproduced;
J. López-Rey, Velázquez, London 1963, p. 235, cat. no. 335, reproduced pl. 310 (as 'Workshop of Velasquez');
J.C. Aznar, Velázquez, vol. II, Madrid 1964, p. 880;
P.M. Bardi, L'opera completa di Velázquez, Milan 1969, p. 108, cat. no. 122A, reproduced;
A.E. Pérez-Sánchez & N. Spinosa, Velázquez a Capodimonte, exh. cat., Naples 2005, p. 114.

The canvas has an old relining, which is still sound, and approximately 8 cm. of the original canvas has been folded over the stretcher on the top edge, possibly in order to fit the present frame. The painting is in fair overall condition. The paint layer was thinly applied and has as a result suffered from general wear. There is an old vertical repaired tear, 36 cm. long, running from the upper margin to just above the sitter's outstretched arm, incorporating an L-shaped repaired damage, 10 by 10 cm., in the background to the left of the sitter's head. There is a smaller, 7 cm. damage to the left of this, and some other scattered repairs of slightly smaller dimensions in the upper background, buff tunic, and in the foreground. The left-hand margin shows a number of restored repairs to old creasing, presumably caused by rolling of the canvas. Other repairs are limited to scattered retouchings and the disguising of wear, mostly in the background. This restoration is relatively recent, the varnish remains clear, and the painting is not in need of any further intervention. Offered in a later carved and gilt and waxed wood frame in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Del Mazo's portrait of Don Felipe Próspero is deeply indebted to that of his master, Velázquez, which was painted in 1659 and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.¹  The interiors are nearly identical, although there are differences in the background, and the dog, which Velázquez supposedly valued a great deal,² repeats his pose on the chair. In Velázquez's work however, Don Felipe is portrayed wearing a silver-banded rose dress under a transparent white pinafore, instead of the tunic, breeches and boots he wears here. Velázquez's portrait was one of the very last works he painted prior to his death in 1660. Del Mazo's depiction of his own young son in the vast portrait of his family of around 1664/5 that also hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna warrants close comparison with this depiction of the young prince; the outfits the two boys wear are very similar and the loosely handled doe-eyed expressions of the young sitters are comparable.³

The late Prof. A.E. Pérez-Sánchez first proposed this attribution to Del Mazo at the time of the 2007 sale (see Provenance), and we are very grateful to Dr. Guillaume Kientz for more recently endorsing this attribution to Del Mazo upon inspection of images.

1 Inv. no. 319; see J. López-Rey, Velázquez, vol. II, Cologne 1996, pp. 320-21, no. 129, reproduced.
2 According to Palomino, Velázquez's biographer.
3 Inv. no. 320.