Title

Portrait of a Man of the House of Leiva

Theotocopoulos, Domenicos (Creta, ca. 1541 - Toledo, ca. 1614)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

On February 15, 1904, the chapter of the cathedral of Valladolid took note of some proposals presented by several antique dealers with the purpose of buying antique objects from the cathedral; for this purpose a special commission was appointed to be in charge of resolving what was most convenient and to give an account of its decision to the chapter. A little more than a month later, on March 21 of the same year, the chapter took up the subject again and quickly resolved: "Regarding the sale of antiques, for the time being only the two portraits of El Greco will be sent, but not for less than 25,000 pesetas". These were the Portrait of a Gentleman of the House of Leiva, now in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Saint Jerome as a Cardinal, now in the Frick Collection in New York. The revision of the cathedral's accounts corresponding to the same year offers confirmation of such an operation: "7ª. Idem. twenty-five thousand pesetas from the sale of two paintings said to be by El Greco... 25,000 pesetas". These accounts also included the 26,500 pesetas which that same year were paid to Amezúa for the second and last installment of the construction of the organ, so this must have been the destination of the profit obtained from the sale of the Grecos (Martínez Ruiz, 2008, t. 1, p. 291).

A few months later, when public opinion became aware of this sale, a lively controversy arose, especially encouraged by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of the Immaculate Conception of Valladolid, and above all by its president, Joaquín Álvarez Taladriz and his son, Ángel María Álvarez Taladriz, who expressed their indignation with particular vehemence in the local newspapers. In the first moments, Archbishop Jose Maria Cos affirmed: "I know from rumors that have reached me, that there have been some who have made offers to acquire the paintings. But I believe that the contract of sale has not been finalized, because if it had been, I would have heard about it for sure". The prelate's words were refuted in the media by Joaquín Álvarez Taladriz, a lawyer and collector who was well acquainted with the art trade circles, where the rumor of the sale was circulating. According to him, there had been several offers: Chicote, an antique dealer from Valladolid, had even offered "3,000 duros" for the works, but the operation had finally been settled with the foreign dealer Emile Parés, who according to his statements had delivered 5,000 pesetas of the total 25,000 pesetas signed with the chapter for the two paintings by El Greco. Once this information was published, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de la Purísima Concepción asked for information to the archbishopric of Valladolid, the answer of this one was clear: they believed the sale was justified, since with the obtained benefit it was intended to pay the organ acquired by the cathedral. A response that did not convince the critical voices, many were those who did not hide their anger at such an unequal exchange (Brasas Egido, 1993, pp. 120-121).

Ángel María Taladriz explained the nature of the works sold: "About half a century ago they were exhumed in the basements of the Cathedral by a lover of painting who today presides over the Academy of Fine Arts of this city, who was helped in his very meritorious work by the Professor of Canons of the University of Valladolid, Dr. Valle, He also considered that the sale price was much lower than its value, since the master's work was in fact highly prized on the international market at that time. Canon, archivist and librarian Manuel de Castro y Alonso responded to the criticism by stating that for more than a year the sale had been announced and photographs had been sent in order to assess the value of the paintings; and although many foreigners and Spaniards had come to see them, the final price of the sale was more than any expert had given for them (Brasas Egido, 1993, pp. 120-124). The controversy over the sale of the paintings reached Madrid; the matter was discussed at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and in the national press, where the sale of the Grecos in the cathedral of Valladolid ignited the debate about the need to legislate to prevent the sale and export of the country's artistic wealth (Martínez Ruiz, 2008, t. 1, pp. 290-298).

After the sale of the chapter to the antiquarian Emile Parés, the canvases passed to V. Boudariat, a Parisian dealer, who in turn sold them to Trotti & Co. The agreement on the paintings between Trotti and the firm M. Knoedler & Co., which was based in Paris, London and New York, explains why the works traveled to New York, where at that time the appreciation, and thus the demand, by collectors of works by the Greco was intense. The Portrait of a Gentleman from the House of Leiva, after arriving at M. Knoedler & Co. in New York in 1905, then passed to the collection of Sir William Van Horne in 1906. Today, since 1945, it is part of the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where it was donated by Adaline Van Horne Bequest.

Description

It is a portrait that bears great similarities, both from the point of view of typology and style, with one of the most emblematic works of El Greco: The Knight with his Hand on his Chest. The portrayed person has been related to a member of the house of Leiva because of the inscription on the upper edge of the canvas, an inscription that, judging by older photographs of the work, has suffered alterations during the interventions that followed the canvas after its sale and circulation in the market. One of the hypotheses considered, in view of this inscription, is that it could be of Alonso Martínez de Leiva, knight of the order of Santiago, since at the beginning of the 20th century the cross of the order appeared on the character's doublet. According to Cossío, the painting was very deteriorated at the beginning of the 20th century (Cossío, 1908, pp. 401-402). It was later restored, first in Madrid and then in Paris, unfortunate interventions that had to modify the original dimensions of the canvas, which explains the cut in the hand that appears in the foreground. Such work also affected the upper inscription, and the supposed cross of Santiago, of which no remains are preserved today (Álvarez Lopera, 1999, no. 28).

Locations

• 1904

  cathedral

  Valladolid Cathedral, Valladolid (Spain)

• Unknown date

  dealer/antiquarian

  Emilio Pares, Paris (France) *

• Unknown date

  dealer/antiquarian

  V. Boudariat, Paris (France) *

• Unknown date

  dealer/antiquarian

  Trotti & Co., Paris (France) *

• Unknown date

  dealer/antiquarian

  M. Knoedler and Company, New York (United States) *

• 1945 - present

  museum

  Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal (Canada)