The Ministry of Culture denies that Tefaf's Velázquez is for sale, and the gallery owner says yes

BarcelonaThe Tefaf fair in Maastricht (Netherlands) is considered one of the most important art fairs in the world. The next edition, which will be held from March 15 to 20, will be a big event, as the Stuart Lochhead Sculpture gallery will exhibit the painting by Velázquez The venerable mother Jerónima de la Fuente. But the presence of the painting at the fair is causing controversy: sources from the Ministry of Culture say that the painting "is not for sale", as reported by the newspaper. Abc and the ARA has confirmed it. However, the gallery assures that it is. The same sources from the ministry warn that, according to the Spanish heritage law, the owners received a temporary export authorization from the general direction of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts to "exhibit" the painting, after a favorable report from the Board of Qualification, Valuation and Export. But if it wanted to be sold, according to the same sources, it would be necessary to request "another authorization in case the buyer wanted to take it out of the country, which would be evaluated at the time." "At the moment, it is only out on display and must return," they assure.

In addition to The venerable mother Jerónima de la FuenteStuart Lochhead Sculpture will exhibit a bronze Christ attributed to Michelangelo that may have inspired the crucifix that the nun in the Velázquez portrait is holding in her hand. Consulted by the ARA, the public relations agency with which the gallery works assures that "both works are for sale." It will be the first time that they can be seen in public. The news of the presence in Tefafo of the Velázquez portrait and the crucifix was given on Wednesday The Guardian The dealer confirmed this exclusively in a statement to which the ARA had access.

The price of Christ, which was discovered in a private collection in San Sebastian a few years ago, is 1.8 million euros, while the estimate of the Velázquez painting has not been made public. The painting comes from a convent in Toledo and came to a family in Madrid in the 1940s. The connection between the two works is based on the fact that in 1597 a crucifix by Michelangelo arrived in Seville where Christ appears crucified with four keys. This figure became the standard model of the crucifixion in the Spanish Baroque and the colonies, and Velázquez must have been familiar with this model in the workshop of his teacher Francisco Pacheco. "By including the crucifix in this masterpiece, Velázquez placed the painting in the religious, cultural and artistic environment of 17th century Seville," says the information from the dealer.

A strong and scrutinizing look

Velázquez's image of Sister Jerónima de la Fuente Yáñez is indelible, due to the determination with which she looks towards the viewer. The venerable mother Jerónima de la Fuente which is on sale at Tefaf was rediscovered in 2023. It is one of the first full-length portraits by Velázquez, made during his Seville period, and one of its three versions: one is in the Prado Museum in Madrid and the other, which is half-length, is in the Apelles de Santiago collection in Santiago. As can be read on the Prado website, the half-length one would be earlier than the other two, because the workmanship is drier and harder, while the brushstrokes of both full-length portraits are "lighter". The only difference between the portrait on sale and the one in El Prado is the position of the crucifix.

Sister Jerónima de la Fuente Yáñez, who came from a prominent family in Toledo, was a Franciscan nun at the Convent of Santa Isabel. In June 1620, when she was 66, she moved to Seville to embark for the Philippines to found the Convent of Santa Clara de la Concepción in Manila, where she was the first abbess and where she died in 1630. Velázquez painted her in Seville before embarking, holding a crucifix in one hand and in the other. The light is tenebrist "with Caravaggesque roots" and highlights all the details of the face and hands. "The nun's energy is wonderfully expressed both in her face, with an intense and scrutinising gaze, and in the way she holds the crucifix, held tightly, almost like a weapon," can also be read on the museum's website. The portrait is the result of the nuns' desire to "preserve in some way the image of their absent mother," which justifies the existence of at least two other copies of the portrait, both of similar quality.

"These masterpieces, by the greatest master of the Italian Renaissance and the most important Baroque painter in Spain, create a dialogue that transcends time," reads the statement from the antique dealer, which also claims that the two works explain "a story of artistic influence, spiritual resonance between Toria Colonna and the Spanish nun Jerónima de la Fuente."

A very prestigious antique dealer

Stuart Lochhead Sculpture is known for having presented Tefaf with exceptional works that have been sold to major museums around the world. Among his achievements are a bust of François Girardon acquired by the Château de Versailles (2020), a Virgin Mary and Child from the French Renaissance sold to the Kimbell Art Museum (2022) and a rare terracotta relief by Massimiliano Soldani purchased by the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts (2023), and one also extraordinary Mars walking by Giambologna that the curators of the Wadsworth Atheneum art museum purchased at the fair last year.