Description

Calabazas, a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, had physical and mental disabilities, a state that the artist emphasizes, rather than tries to hide. While the Spanish court prized and doted upon people with disabilities such as Calabazas, Velázquez transformed their depiction in portraiture. This startling work uses the format of the formal, full-length court portrait to present a type of person who was generally perceived as marginal at this point in history and profoundly humanizes him.

Provenance

Royal Collections (Palacio del Beun Retiro, Madrid) (ca. 1631-32 - until at least 1808); Private Collection (Great Britain) (- possibly 1863); Jean-Gilbert-Victor Fialin, Duc de Persigny, 1808-1872 (Paris, France) (sold, Hotel Drouot, Paris, April 4,1872, as "Le Fou," for 750 francs (by 1867 - 1872); Maurice Cottier (died 1881), (Paris, France, and Château Cangé, Touraine. (by 1881); Sir George Donaldson (1845-1925) London, England, and Brighton, England, sold to Herbert Frederick Cook, 1915. (by 1906 - 1915); Herbert Frederick Cook, later 3rd Baronet, 1868-1939 (Richmond, England), by inheritance to Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 1939. (1915-1939); Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Baronet, 1907-1978 since 1956 (sold, Christie's, London, March 19, 1965, lot 104, through Thomas Agnew & Sons (London, England) to the Cleveland Museum of Art. (1939-); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1965-)