El retrato de Isabel de Borbón de Velázquez regresa a los prados con cicatrices y agregados

The equestrian portrait of Isabel de Borbón, by Velázquez, returned to Room 12 of the Museo Nacional del Prado after its restoration in October of last year, with scars, fabric grafts, and additions by lateral strips and the right of the monarch.

The painting had been in the «comfortable environment» of the royal collections for four centuries, and the preservation problems it presented were not due to «abuse,» explained the head of Spanish Baroque painting at the Pinacoteca, Javier Portús, but rather to issues related to the «circumstances» of its creation.

Specifically, around 1634, Velázquez himself and the disciples of his workshop added and painted two lateral strips of 30 centimeters to adapt the canvas to the space in which it would be placed, in the Buen Retiro Palace.

The material of these bands and pigments with «significantly different» chemicals led to discoloration, which added to a series of subsequent oil replacements, intended to correct the «specific» damage, constitute the main problems.

Additionally, as explained by the painting’s restorer, María Álvarez-Garcillán, the portrait of the queen, which is part of a set of four other portraits by Velázquez of Felipe III, Margarita de Austria, and Felipe, was installed in a residence of the Buen Retiro, which invited the last time.

Therefore, to prevent this door from opening, the decision was made to cut a lower square of the painting, surpass the door, and sew it, achieving the desired effect: when the door was opened, the fabric was separated, but once closed, it appeared that the portrait was complete. «When it closed, it was hiding,» said Portús.

Despite the restoration, the scar left by the nails, the holes from the rope used to sew this separation, the additions and grafts on the fabric remain part of the canvas, although not easily visible to the visitor’s eye.

When the painting was outside the Bunal pension palace to be taken to the Royal Palace in 1775, the pieces cut from the sides were recovered and reintegrated, Andrés de Calleja strengthened them. It will be in 2010 and 2011, with all the «scars» of the painting, when a technical investigation will begin to be able to carry out the necessary work with «full knowledge of the case.»

Although the author of the portrait is Velázquez, the truth is that he delegated the creation of this painting to several of his collaborators, such as Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, because the commission had too much work for the painter.

«In less than a year, in 1675, Velázquez had to face and resolve five portraits and equestrian orders. Probably there is no time in the artist’s career where he had to work so much. To do this, he had to resort to collaborators,» explained Portús.

Therefore, a working method was established by which Velázquez was entirely responsible for the most «important» parts, Felipe IV and the heir of Prince Baltasar Carlos, and designed the composition of the portrait of Isabel de Borbón, although he delegated its execution.

However, Portús warned, it was a «very guarded» delegation, which had consequences from the point of view of the preservation of the painting, as several corrections can be seen in the horse’s feet and neck, as well as in the vegetation.

«It was a protected delegation because Velázquez intervened in a significant way: correcting, rectifying, and monitoring the entire process. It had consequences from the point of view of the conservation of the works, as the overlap of so many layers appeared in the execution of a work, which appeared on time,» said the head of the Spanish collection.

FUENTE