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Lot Essay
The sitter is identified by the inscription on the letter as Nicolás Omazur, a Flemish silk merchant living in Seville. He commissioned Murillo to paint portraits of both himself and his wife, Dona Isabel Malcampo. He assembled one of the finest collections of art in Seville and was the most important private patron of Murillo, owning thirty-one paintings by the artist, a total only surpassed today by the extensive holdings of the Prado.
Nicolás Omazur is thought to have been born around 1630. This would fit with both the dating of the present painting and a second portrait by Murillo, Don Nicolás Omazur with a Skull (Madrid, Prado), which is generally dated to 1672 (see D. Kinkead, 'The picture collection of Don Nicolas Omazur', The Burlington Magazine, CXXVIII, January 1986, pp. 132-44). In January 1690 he made an inventory of his own estate, which began with the picture collection and included 121 paintings and drawings each identified by artist, of which more than half were Spanish, about one fifth were Flemish and the rest Italian. A second inventory was drawn up by his eldest son in 1698, which while providing more precise descriptions of the paintings and included their dimensions, only identified three paintings by artist name. The entire range of Murillo's art interested Omazur, from drawings to finished paintings and the themes included religious scenes, genre, allegorical landscapes, portraits and mythological paintings. The earliest works dated from the 1650s and the last commissions were made in 1681, the year before the artist's death. Paintings that can be identified include The Immaculate Conception (The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), The Marriage at Cana (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham), The Sacrifice of Isaac and Tobias and the Angel (formerly at Aynhoe Park, Northamptonshire).
We are grateful to Professor Enrique Valdivieso who, based on a transparency, suggests an attribution to Cornelis Schutt III and compares the present picture to the Portrait of Giovanni Battista Priaioggia (in a private collection; E. Valdivieso, Pintura Barroca Sevillana, Seville, 2003, pp. 464-466, fig. 442), that was itself previously attributed to Murillo. At least six paintings by Cornelis Schutt are listed in the 1690 inventory of paintings belonging to Nicolás Omazur (D. Kinkead, ibid., p. 144).
The painting is accompanied by a certificate from August Mayer, written in 1997, confirming his attribution to Murillo.
Nicolás Omazur is thought to have been born around 1630. This would fit with both the dating of the present painting and a second portrait by Murillo, Don Nicolás Omazur with a Skull (Madrid, Prado), which is generally dated to 1672 (see D. Kinkead, 'The picture collection of Don Nicolas Omazur', The Burlington Magazine, CXXVIII, January 1986, pp. 132-44). In January 1690 he made an inventory of his own estate, which began with the picture collection and included 121 paintings and drawings each identified by artist, of which more than half were Spanish, about one fifth were Flemish and the rest Italian. A second inventory was drawn up by his eldest son in 1698, which while providing more precise descriptions of the paintings and included their dimensions, only identified three paintings by artist name. The entire range of Murillo's art interested Omazur, from drawings to finished paintings and the themes included religious scenes, genre, allegorical landscapes, portraits and mythological paintings. The earliest works dated from the 1650s and the last commissions were made in 1681, the year before the artist's death. Paintings that can be identified include The Immaculate Conception (The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), The Marriage at Cana (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham), The Sacrifice of Isaac and Tobias and the Angel (formerly at Aynhoe Park, Northamptonshire).
We are grateful to Professor Enrique Valdivieso who, based on a transparency, suggests an attribution to Cornelis Schutt III and compares the present picture to the Portrait of Giovanni Battista Priaioggia (in a private collection; E. Valdivieso, Pintura Barroca Sevillana, Seville, 2003, pp. 464-466, fig. 442), that was itself previously attributed to Murillo. At least six paintings by Cornelis Schutt are listed in the 1690 inventory of paintings belonging to Nicolás Omazur (D. Kinkead, ibid., p. 144).
The painting is accompanied by a certificate from August Mayer, written in 1997, confirming his attribution to Murillo.