THE VELAZQUEZIAN PARAGONE. REFLECTIONS ON THE PORTRAIT OF JUAN MARTÍNEZ MONTAÑÉS

Abstract

By mid-1635 the sculptor Martínez Montañés is summoned to the court to carry out a bust of Philip IV. His stay in Madrid gives his friend Velázquez the opportunity to immortalise him, making his effigy in the portrait where he appears with the object of his undertaking. But in this painting, beyond its appearance of verisimilitude, the veil of time has obscured the essence of its discourse, a firm declaration against the sophism of the paragone which exiled the sculptor from the edenic circle of liberal arts. The vivifying breath of a reasoned out hermeneutics will be meant to dispel the veil that clouds it, exposing the clear features of Velazquez´'s thought towards the dignification of sculpture as a High Art.