Velazquez Rediscovered

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. Paperback. Very Good. 0x0x0. Unmarked. 24p. 21 beautiful illustrations (16 in full color). Measures 8.5x11 inches. Introduction by Keith Christiansen. Essays by Jonathan Brown and Michael Gallagher. Documents a 2009 cleaning of Diego Velazquez's (Spanish, 1599-1660) Portrait of a Man. The cleaning revealed it as a picture of astonishing freshness and striking presence. In his introduction, Keith Christiansen describes the provenance of the portrait, the vicissitudes of its attribution since it was first considered by the scholar August L. Mayer in 1917, and his own acquaintance with the painting over three decades. Jonathan Brown identifies the sitter. Conservator Michael Gallagher presents an illuminating account of his cleaning and restoration of the work. Illustrations include Las Meninas, the Surrender of Breda, reproductions from periodicals showing the condition of the portrait in the early twentieth century; before- and after- treatment photographs; and numerous informative details.