There have been great divergences of opinion concerning the strange
little painting representing a _Meeting of Thirteen People_ (No. 1734)
on a hill. It was formerly known as _A Meeting of Artists_, because
two of the Spanish cavaliers depicted in the group were believed to
represent Velazquez and Murillo. Lauded at first as one of Velazquez’s
masterpieces by those who were carried away by the truly extraordinary
beauty of the pearly, opalescent colour harmony and the atmospheric
quality of the painting, the little picture has lately been as
violently abused for its “poor design, weak execution, and commonplace
arrangement.” As a matter of fact the arrangement is anything but
commonplace, and the picture has great qualities of technique which
will always be the delight of professional artists. It is moreover
admirably varied in gesture and action, even if it has certain
weaknesses which render impossible its unqualified attribution to
Velazquez. Here we have clearly an excellent example of his son-in-law
and imitator, J. B. del Mazo. If any proof were needed for this
attribution, it will be found in the figure on the extreme left of the
composition. Both his legs are slanting forward so much that his centre
of gravity plumbs behind his heels. It would really be impossible to
maintain this posture, which, though it offends against the laws of
gravity, is to be found in quite a number of Mazo’s pictures, as, for
instance, in the small figure of Olivarez (?) in the middle distance
on the right in the Duke of Westminster’s _Don Baltazar Carlos in the
Riding School_, in the portrait of _Don Baltazar Carlos_ at The Hague,
and in the second boy in _The Family of Mazo_ at the Vienna Gallery.
The soundly painted _Portrait of Don Pedro de Altamira, Doyen of the
Chapel Royal at Toledo, afterwards Cardinal_ (No. 1737), inscribed
on the background “ÆT 54 DV, 1633,” is a good character-study of an
energetic and rather worldly-looking Church dignitary, but does not
appear to be either by Velazquez or one of his immediate followers.
There is in the Spanish section of the Louvre another superbly painted,
but very problematic, _Head of a Man_ (No. 1747), which, on no more
plausible grounds than an accidental likeness to one of the figures
in _The Forge of Vulcan_, has by some critics been believed to be by
Velazquez. The rich impasto and the careful finish of the painting are
utterly unlike Velazquez’s manner; nor does the picture appear to be
of his period. But whoever may be its author, it is one of the most
remarkable paintings in this section of the Louvre.