April 1, 2011
FAKE FOOL´S DAY
THE CORONATION OF TRUTH
We owe “The Coronation of the Virgin”
to Alonso Cano, not to Velazquez.
- An unedited sketch of the complete painting from the hand of Alonso Cano exists.
- The oldest reference we have to this composition is from a 1735 inventory in which this painting is registered as Alonso Cano´s. Later Alonso Cano´s named was scratched out and replaced with that of Valazquez, without the slightest justification.
- The style and symmetrical composition in the form of an asp is completely atypical of Velazquez, but is perfectly natural in Cano. In his great compositions the hand of the principal person is often the epicenter of the work.
- The figure of the Virgin in “The Coronation of the Virgin” corresponds to the ideal of Cano´s Virgins of the Cathedral of Granada.
5. The paint over of the hair which covers a too pale veil gets lost in the gold and silver of the heavens but is visible in x-rays. Published by El Prado (Garrido, Carmen. Velázquez, técnica y evolución. Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1992) it is the same as in one of the large paintings of the Virgin of Granada and is visible to the naked eye.6. The God the Father is the prototype stenciled from the same model as a Cano drawing presently in the Uffizi Museum in Florence (reference 10270.)
7. The little angels, “as if escaped from a base of Alonso Cano,” in the words of Julián Gallego*, don´t exist in any work of Velazquez.
*the catalog of the great 1990 Museo del Prado exhibition dedicated to Velazquez, p. 350 Catálogo de la gran exposición del Museo del Prado dedicada a Velázquez en 1990, página 350.
8. In an analysis of pigments published in 1988 by Grindley M.C. Smith and Richard Newman, the colors of The Coronation of the Virgin of “Velazquez” are totally distinct from the six other works of Velazquez which are contrasted in this study. Max Smith y Richard Newman, Examine Velázquez, Yale University Press, New Haven, and London. "Pigments identified in Samples", page 113.
9. The mystical impact of the work in no way corresponds to Velaquez. His chromatism is rare and we should remember Velazquez´s scant inclination to paint religious works.
10. This composition corresponds to the 1649 arrival in Madrid of Queen Mariana of Austria, which was celebrated by Cano for the grand events which accompanied it, including the decorative architecture installed in the Puerta de Guadalajara. A wonderful drawing of it remains. It was published by Sánchez Cantón (Dibujos españoles, Vol. IV, Madrid, Ministerio de Instrucción Pública y Bellas Artes, 1930, drawings number 351 and 352) and unpardonably forgotten in the Exhibition of Cano's Drawings at the Prado in 2001.
11. During 1649-1650, which corresponds to the painting of The Coronation of the Virgin, we must emphasize that Velazquez was traveling in Italy, far from Madrid.
12. It is known that Alonso Cano was Crown-Prince Baltasar Carlos´s drawing master, the prime minister Conde Duque de Olivares´ personal painter, as well as a court painter. Little of his work from this time survives, and a great deal of it would naturally be found in the Palace. It would certainly not be strange if this Coronation of the Virgin were from among Cano´s works.
WARNING
Alonso Cano is the most eclectic of artists, as Picasso would be much later. It is difficult then to take any of his Prado works as a reference point. They are very different from each other as any visitor with sufficient curiosity to overcome the common places will appreciate. This eclecticism which is dispersed throughout collections around the world explains why Alonso Cano, despite being one of the most important Spanish artists of the Siglo de Oro, is not as popular as Murillo, Zurbaran, or Velazquez.
