著者

諸星 妙

出版者

美学会

雑誌

美学 (ISSN:05200962)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.59, no.1, pp.99-112, 2008

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This paper examines the opening and the function of the gesture of Cristobal Suarez de Ribera in his portrait by Velazquez. The portrait was painted in 1620, that is two years after the subject's death, and was placed above the tomb of Cristobal Suarez in the Chapel of San Hermenegildo in Seville, which he had founded from 1606 to 1616. As was the custom for funerary sculptures, he is shown kneeling in the attitude of a prayer. However he is pointing towards the main altar which contains a polychrome statue of San Hermenegildo by Martinez Montanes. This gesture is exceptional for a funerary portraiture, which leads us to consider that the portrait performs a specific function in the Chapel. In this point, showing how the portrait was hung in the Chapel in the 17th century, I point out that Suarez in this portrait plays a role similar to the intercession. According to the documents, Suarez was known as a leading figure in the veneration of San Hermenegildo at that time, which makes us consider that Velazquez painted the portrait in a peculiar manner so that Suarez could seem to be playing a role of mediator between the members of the Confraternity of San Hermenegildo and the statue of the saint in the main altar.