Caballeros en España - portraits by Vicente López y Portaña

 José Gutiérrez de los Ríos y Sarmiento de Sotomayor, circa 1849.

Francisco de Paula Antonia de Borbón y Borbón-Parma, infante de España, circa 1820s-30s. 
(This might actually be the work of the painter's son, Bernardo López y Piquer.)

Francisco de Paula Antonia de Borbón y Borbón-Parma, infante de España, circa 1820. (Same as above.)

 Juan Miguel de Grijalba, 1825.

Carlos María Isidro Benito de Borbón y Borbón-Parma, infante de España, circa prior to 1833.

Henry O´Shea, circa after 1828. An Irish-born banker.

(It seems likely that this is a copy after the original.)

Richard Worsam Meade, 1815. An American merchant and art collector.

Francisco Tadeo Calomarde y Arría, first duque de Santa Isabel, circa 1831.

Ramón Miralles y Fernández, circa 1830. As the painted inscription relates, the boy died at the age of eight. So if the suggested
date of the work is correct, the portrait would have been completed some eighteen years after the child's death.

"El sacerdote León" - Juan Gutiérrez de León, 1840.

Matías Sorzano Nájera, 1840.

El canónigo Mariano de Liñán y Morelló, 1835.

Gaspar de Remisa y Miarons Bres y Queral, marqués de Remisa, vizconde de Casa Sans, 1844.

Y otros caballeros decorados y bordados - court officials, soldiers, and kings, portraits by Vicente López y Portaña

Pedro de Alcántara Álvarez de Toledo y Salm-Salm, XIII duque del Infantado, IX duque de Pastrana, IX duque de Estremera,
X duque de Francavilla, XII marqués de Távara - among other titles - and knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1827.

Manuel González Salmón, circa 1826.

Fernando VII, King of Spain, circa 1815.

General Francisco Javier Castaños, circa 1848.

 Isidro González Velázquez, circa 1830.

General Francisco Javier de Oms y de Santa Pau, V marqués de Castelldosríus, 1841.

Ignacio Gutiérrez Solana, circa 1823.

Jorge Palacios de Urdániz, 1799.

Portrait of a Spanish general, circa 1818-19.

Antonio Pascual de Borbón y Sajonia, infante de España, circa 1815.

Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies, 1829.

Mateo Casado y Sirelo, 1839.

Pedro Gómez Labrador, marqués de Labrador, circa 1833-34.

Colonel Juan de Zengotita Bengoa, 1842.

Luis Veldrof, aposentador mayor y conserje del Real Palacio - portrait by Vicente López y Portaña, 1823

I've shared the work of López y Portaña before - and gushed my admiration for the work of this not-well-enough-known artist. The candor of his characterization, the lushness and precision of the details, the gorgeous, saturated color, his bravura brushwork; I find all of it wonderful. And I really love the very particular way he describes the contours of a face or hand, now the paint is laid down, the easily traceable path of his brush. It gives his portraiture a vitality, a marvelous sense of movement. I can think of no other artist of the period whose work is comparable in this regard.

Luis Veldrof was born in 1758 and entered the service of the Royal House of Spain at a very young age. Attendant to the Royal Family through their many travails, through exile and restoration, he had risen quickly through the ranks, and would spend the rest of his career in the personal service of the King. He became one of the most important officials of the court; in 1815 he was appointed Concierge of the royal palaces and, the following year, Senior Chamberlain. This portrait commemorates his long tenure in that capacity. Much decorated, he retired in 1834 and died six years later at the age of eighty-one.