The Intriguing Story behind the Cross of Santiago in Velazquez's Artwork

[Gadflyparexcellence]

While recently working on an article on Diego Velazquez I discovered some interesting facts that I wanted to share.

Most of you, if not all, might have seen the Cross of Santiago emblazoned on Velazquez’s tunic in his signature work ‘Las Meninas.’ The story of how it got there is very interesting. One traditional theory is that Philip IV whom Velazquez served during most of his professional career painted the cross of the Knights of Santiago on Velazquez’s costume himself after the painter’s death. According to this theory, it was Philip’s IV’s way of taking revenge against the Order of Santiago who had never accepted Velazquez’s nobility into it even after Philip IV had secured a decree from Pope Alexander VII granting him induction into the Order in 1659, a year before the painter’s passing. But the Order continued to object Velazquez’s induction on the ground that the artist’s family heritage didn’t have any trace of nobility. They harbored a grudge against Velazquez until the end. At Velazquez’s funeral in 1660 in Madrid the only people missing in offering tributes to the painter were members of the Chapters of the Knights of Santiago. This infuriated Philip IV which in turn led to his action.

One recent theory claims that the Cross of Santiago was painted on his costume by Velazquez himself. Following a clean-up of the painting in the early 1980s it was revealed that the brushwork of the cross is uniform with the rest of the surface. From this some critics concluded that only Velazquez could have drawn it.

A third possibility is that painting of the cross may not have been done either by Philip IV or Velazquez, but was done by Velazquez’s pupil and protege Juan de Pareja after the master's death. Philip IV might have commissioned Pareja to do the work. Pareja under the guidance of Velazquez had become an accomplished artist in his own right and had a prominent presence in the Royal Court. The smoothness of the cross in the painting as mentioned above might have been the result of Pareja’s artistic talent. It's also worth remembering that Pareja's artistic skills were most likely a contributing factor in winning royal favor in winning freedom from having a slave designation.

For those interested in getting a full grasp of the breadth of Velazquez’s work, below is my article which includes a picture of ‘Las Meninas’ as well as Velazquez’s famous portrait of Juan de Pareja.

https://medium.com/@tschaudhuri/diego-velázquez-was-more-than-just-about-las-meninas-6733e5386642

 

[C clearly]

Thanks for this interesting bit of art history.

this assertion is that the painting of the cross may not have been done by Philip IV himself at all,

Do you mean "may not have been done by Velazquez himself"?

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

Yes I meant by Philip IV himself. I was referring to the conventional theory which asserted that the cross was added to Velazquez's image in 'Las Meninas' as a retaliation against the Order of Santiago for their ill treatment and dishonoring of Velazquez.

I know it might sound confusing. It's a complex topic with too many intervening factors. Thanks for questioning.

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

Thanks for this interesting bit of art history.


Do you mean "may not have been done by Velazquez himself"?

I edited the post a bit to provide more clarity to it. Thanks again.

 

[witsendwv]

I had learned a lifetime ago that Velazquez was not eligible to be inducted to the Knights due to his family possibly being conversos and for this reason he painted the cross himself.

 

[Gringazolana]

Thanks for the interesting article! I always thought that Pareja had added the cross. I very much enjoyed my visit to the Prado a couple months ago. Velázquez was really ahead of his times!!