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portrait of a man in a black dress with a white ruffled collarportrait of a man with a ruffled collara painting of a man with a collar around his neckan old wooden frame with a piece of wood hanging from it ' s sidea small teddy bear sitting on top of a wooden chaira close up of a piece of wood that has been painted
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145 - DOMÉNIKOS THEOTOKÓPOULOS, EL GRECO (Candia, Crete, 1541 – To…
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Estimate €600,000 - €1,200,000
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Description
DOMÉNIKOS THEOTOKÓPOULOS, EL GRECO (Candia, Crete, 1541 – Toledo, 1614) – Portrait of Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma (c. 1576–1577) Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 41 × 31 cm. An important portrait of a man attributed to Doménikos Theotokópoulos, El Greco, painted around 1576–1577, during the period immediately before or after the painter’s arrival in Spain and before he settled permanently in Toledo. The work depicts a young gentleman in elegant black attire with a fine ruff, rendered with a composition of extraordinary restraint and psychological insight—traits characteristic of the Cretan master’s early Spanish portraits. The intensity of the gaze, the delicate modelling of the face, the refined treatment of the lace collar, and the austere lighting against a dark background foreshadow techniques that El Greco would later develop in some of his most celebrated portraits. August L. Mayer proposed that the sitter might be Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, also noting the close stylistic relationship between the work and the Portrait of Vincenzo Anastagi in the Frick Collection, New York, and the portrait in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. He further regarded it as an important precursor to the *Gentleman with his Hand on his Chest* in the Prado Museum. Mayer also suggested that the painting might have come from the former collection of King Louis Philippe of France, identifying it as number 303 in the 1838 catalogue of the *Galerie Espagnole*. The work passed through the hands of the renowned restorer John Brealey (1925–2002) of London around 1970, subsequently remained at the Galerie Canesso in Paris, and was acquired by the current owner in October 2006. Bibliography: A.L. Mayer, ‘An Unknown Portrait by El Greco’, *The Burlington Magazine*, vol. LXXVII, November 1940, pp. 164–169, pl. 165; Stephan Bourgeois, El Greco; catalogue *La Grèce de la Crète à Tolède par Venise*, Bordeaux, 1953, no. 16; *Chefs-d’Œuvre Oubliés*, ...
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About the sale GRAND JULY AUCTION | OLD MASTERS, HAUTE ÉPOQUE & FINE JEWELLERY
Auction location
Auction time 07/28/2026 at 4:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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