The Minister of Culture and Sports, Patricia del Pozo, inaugurated at the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, on the occasion of the Museums Day, an exhibition with the legacy of the Hispanist John H. Elliott and his wife Oonah: an anonymous view from the 18th century of the Sevillian Alameda de Hércules, which is now part of the collection of the Seville art gallery, and a portrait from Velázquez’s circle of the Count-Duke of Olivares, deposited by the Gaspar de Guzmán Association, Count-Duke of Olivares.
Patricia del Pozo, accompanied by the president of the Olivareña cultural association, Basilio Rodríguez García, and the museum’s director, Valme Muñoz, stated that «it is an honor to receive the legacy of this Hispanist, an undisputed reference in the studies of Spain during the Austrias period.» «John H. Elliott and Oonah Elliott had a close connection with Spain and Seville, as evidenced by both the miniature of the Count-Duke of Olivares and the view of the Alameda, which adorned their living room.»
The view of the Alameda de Hércules, executed by an anonymous hand, is of great interest to the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, as it enriches its exhibition discourse with a canvas that describes a space in the city in the 18th century, thus contextualizing a collection that has Baroque art as its main attraction. In this sense, it complements the series of eight canvases on the mask organized by the Royal Tobacco Factory in 1747, made in the workshop of the painter Domingo Martínez.
The painting represents one of the most important urban spaces in Seville from the end of the Renaissance and the Baroque: the Alameda de Hércules, flanked by poplars and other species. In the view of this Seville square, you can see the irrigation channels and the small bridges that cross them, as well as the Rodeo Cross, the fountains that adorned the central avenue, and, prominently in the foreground, the famous Roman columns topped by the sculptures of Julius Caesar and Hercules.
Likewise, the oil painting offers an insight into the society of 18th century Seville, portraying men and women of the upper class strolling through its central space, as well as common people, members of the clergy, street vendors, and even a water carrier refilling jugs at the central fountain. The Alameda de Hércules, created in 1574 at the behest of Assistant Francisco Zapata, Count of Barajas, was the city’s main recreational area, and its success served as a model for similar boulevards in other cities in Spain and America.
Del Pozo also thanked the Gaspar de Guzmán Association, Count-Duke of Olivares, for depositing in the museum the small-format portrait of King Felipe IV’s favorite, donated to the Olivareña cultural collective by John H. Elliott. This oil on copper, nine centimeters in size, depicts the politician in bust form, following the model of the miniature preserved in the Gallery of the Royal Collections, which in turn derives from the portrait in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, both attributed to Velázquez’s own hand.
Against a backdrop of extensive drapery, the figure portrays the recognizable features of the character, a man in his fifties with the characteristic hairstyle of the time: long hair with sideburns, a mustache with raised tips, and a goatee. He also wears fashionable attire: a sober black suit with a starched ruff and the Cross of the Order of Alcántara on his chest and sleeves. The work could be dated around 1638, the year when Velázquez’s workshop produced multiple portraits of the character to reinforce his role as a favorite and send him to other European courts.
Sir John H. Elliott
British Hispanist John H. Elliott (Reading, 1930-Oxford, 2022) was one of the most prestigious historians of the modern era, as well as one of the most prominent figures in Spanish historiography in recent decades. With an tireless professional activity spanning over sixty years, his works are an undisputed reference for historians on both sides of the Atlantic.
His interest in the history of Spain and its Empire, which marked his entire career, began early on when he was impressed by the monumental portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares on horseback, painted by Velázquez, which he saw during a visit to the Prado Museum in 1950. There, his passion for Spanish painting was born, mainly for the portraits of characters from the reign of Felipe IV, as well as for views of Spanish cities from the Early Modern period. This interest led him to amass a notable collection.
Educated at Eton College, he earned a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Cambridge with a thesis on the centralizing policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares. His academic career unfolded between Trinity College, Cambridge, King’s College London, and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (USA), until his return to England in 1990 to be appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford, where he remained until his retirement in 1997, at the age of 67.
Awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences in 1996, he was previously knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994. He also held the Grand Cross of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise (1988), the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1996), the Gold Medal of Fine Arts from the Ministry of Culture (1990), and numerous Honorary Doctorates from various Spanish and British universities.
Among his numerous publications are ‘The Catalan Revolt’ (1986), ‘Imperial Spain, 1469-1716’ (1987), ‘The Old World and the New, 1492-1650’ (1984), ‘Power and Society in the Spain of the Austrias’ (1982), ‘Spain and its World’ (1989), ‘The Count-Duke of Olivares’ (1990), ‘The World of Favorites’ (1999), ‘A Palace for the King’, in collaboration with Jonathan Brown (2003), ‘Empires of the Atlantic World’ (2006), and ‘Making History’ (2010).