Saint Martin and the Beggar

1600/1614

A nearly nude man with peachy skin stands next to and looks up at a man with ashen, ivory-colored skin, wearing armor and riding a bright white horse in this vertical painting. The horizon line comes less than a quarter of the way up the composition, and the sky behind the men and horse is vivid, aqua blue with a few silvery-gray and pale, yellow clouds floating along the top edge of the composition. The painting is created with long, blended brushstrokes, and the limbs and features of the two men and horse are elongated and have delicate, dark outlines. The horse’s body is angled to our right but it looks at us from the corners of its dark eyes. One front leg is raised. The rider looks down toward the man on foot at his side, to our left. The rider has dark, arched eyebrows, a long, straight nose, a pointed chin, and short, copper-orange hair. Wide ruffs pleated into figure-eights encircle his neck and wrists. His chest and arms are covered with plates of steel-gray armor edged and decorated with gold bands and medallions. He wears crimson-red pantaloons and stockings with mustard-yellow boots. With his right hand, to our left, he holds the gold hilt of a long, thin sword along the horse’s body. With his other hand, he holds a swath of lime-green fabric, which drapes down the side of the horse and across the hips of the man standing next to the rider. The sheen of the fabric is suggested with canary-yellow highlights where it catches the light. The standing man has short, dark brown hair and eyebrows. He looks to our right in profile, toward the rider, with pink lips parted. He holds the green fabric with his left hand, to our right, and he has a bandage around his leg near his right ankle. The horse and man stand on a spit of dark brown land, with a landscape of trees, buildings, and mountains deep in the distance beyond.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 28

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (original painted surface): 99.5 x 55 cm (39 3/16 x 21 5/8 in.)
    overall (with extensions on all four sides): 104.3 x 60.3 cm (41 1/16 x 23 3/4 in.)
    framed: 124.5 x 81 x 6.4 cm (49 x 31 7/8 x 2 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.84

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly (Baron Isidoro Taylor collection sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24-26 February 1880, no. 22).[1] Louis Manzi, Paris, by 1908.[2] In the private collection of Josse and Gaston Bernheim-Jeune, Paris art dealers, by 1919;[3] sold 19 June 1929 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[4] purchased 28 March 1930 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.;[5] deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] Harold E. Wethey, El Greco and his School 2 (Princeton, 1962): 247, no. X-401, identifies the NGA Saint Martin and the Beggar as the one sold as part of the Baron Taylor collection. The only information provided in the sale catalogue for lot 22 is the title and artist (El Greco). It is therefore impossible to identify which of the five small versions of St. Martin and the Beggar was sold at the 1880 auction. August L. Mayer, "St. Martin and the Beggar by El Greco," Apollo 10 (1929):151 claims the the number "387" inscribed at the lower right indicates that the NGA painting was once in the Spanish royal collection, but he does not provide any evidence to support this assertion. The number 387 is not used to identify a painting of Saint Martin or a work of any subject by El Greco in the published inventories of the Spanish collections. The unpublished inventories of the Spanish royal collections have not been checked.
[2] Manuel B. Cossío, El Greco (Madrid, 1908): 600, no. 309. It seems likely that this is the painting listed as "Portrait (perhaps San Luis)" in the collection of M. L. Manzi, Paris, by George C. Williamson, ed., Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, 5 vols. (London, 1903-1905), 5:168. Both Saints Martin and Louis were frequently shown wearing armor.
[3] Félix Fénéon, ed. L'Art moderne et quelques aspects de l'art d'autrefois d'après la collection privée de MM. J. et G. Bernheim-Jeune 1 (Paris, 1919):61-64, pl. 68. August L. Mayer, Domenico Theotocopuli, El Greco (Munich, 1926): 48, no. 299, claims that the painting was included in the auctions of the Manzi collection. However, it is not mentioned in the catalogues of the auctions of paintings from the Manzi collection held at Galérie Manzi, Joyant et Compagnie, Paris, 13-14 March 1919 and 13 December 1919, nor is it mentioned in contemporary articles on these auctions. See, e.g., Alexandre Arsene, "Les collections Manzi," Les Arts 5 (1919): 1-26. It seems possible that the brothers Bernheim-Jeune purchased the painting from (Manzi, Joyant et Cie)--with which Louis Manzi was affiliated--sometime before 1919.
[4] Knoedler stockbook no. 8, p. 88, M. Knoedler & Co. records, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (copy NGA curatorial files). .
[5] The painting is listed in "More Masterpieces in Mellon Collection Become Known," Art News (2 March 1935): 4. On Mellon's purchases from Knoedler, see "List of Mellon Art Turned Over to Educational Trust," Art News (13 April 1935): 3. On Mellon's methods of collecting, see also William Larimar Mellon and Boyden Sparks, Judge Mellon's Sons (New York, 1948): especially 425-427.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1925

  • Exposition d'art ancien espagnol, Hôtel Jean Charpentier, Paris, 1925, no. 48.

1930

  • A Loan Exhibition of Sixteen Masterpieces, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1930, 29, no. 13.

1937

  • Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washington, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, 1937, no. 14.

2014

  • El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2014-2015, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1906

  • Lafond, Paul. "Domenikos Theotokopuli dit Le Greco." Les arts 58 (October, 1906): 20-22, repro. 6.

  • Lafond, Paul. "La Chapelle San José de Tolèdo et ses peintures du Greco." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 36 (1906): 387, repro.

1908

  • Cossío, Manuel B. El Greco. Madrid, 1908: 330, 600, no. 309, pl. 47 (also rev. ed., ed. Natalia Cossío Jíménez. Barcelona, 1972: 192, 386, no. 287).

1909

  • Calvert, Albert F., and C. Gasquoine Hartley. El Greco. London, 1909: 124.

1911

  • Mayer, August L. El Greco. Munich, 1911: 53.

1919

  • Fénéon, Félix, ed. L'art moderne et quelques aspects de l'art d'autrefois d'après de MM. J. et G. Barnheim-Jeune. 2 vols. Paris, 1919: 1:61-64, pl. 68.

1925

  • Boyer, Raymond. "La saison des `retrospectives.'" La Revue de l'Art 48 (1925): 229.

  • Dayot, Armand. "Une exposition d'art ancien espagnol." L'art et les artistes 19 (1925): 296.

1926

  • Mayer, August L. Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Munich, 1926: 48, no. 299.

1928

  • Villar, Emilio H. del. El Greco en España. Madrid, 1928: 103.

1929

  • Mayer, August L. "St. Martin and the Beggar by El Greco." Apollo 10 (1929): 151, color repro.

1930

  • Bull, Henry Adsit. "Notes of the Month." International Studio 95 (1930): 58, repro.

  • Rutter, Frank. El Greco. New York, 1930: 62, 98, no. 80, pl. 70.

1931

  • Mayer, August L. El Greco. Berlin, 1931: 107, fig. 105.

1934

  • Busuioceanu, Al. "Les tableaux du Greco dans la collection royale de Roumanie." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 76 (1934): 298, repro. 294.

1937

  • Legendre, Maurice, and Alfred Hartmann. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Called El Greco. Paris, 1937: 463, repro.

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 42.

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 92, no. 84, as by El Greco.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 216, as by El Greco.

1945

  • Cook 1945, 70-72, fig. 3.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): xii, repro. 43.

1950

  • Camón Aznar, José. Dominico Greco. 2 vols. Madrid, 1950: 2:702-704, 1383, no. 528, fig. 538 (also 1970 rev. ed., 2:712, 714, 1367, no. 528, fig. 594).

1957

  • Soehner, Halldor. "Ein Hauptwerk Grecos: die Kapelle San José in Toledo." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 9 (1957): 215, n. 88.

1958

  • Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 205, no. 1407.

1960

  • Evans, Grose. Spanish Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Ten in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 42, color repro. on cover, as by El Greco.

1961

  • Soehner, Halldor. Una obra maestra de El Greco: la Capilla de San José de Toledo. Translated. Madrid, 1961: 40, n. 88.

1962

  • Wethey, Harold E. El Greco and His School. 2 vols. Princeton, 1962: 1:fig. 119; 2: 247, no. X-401 (also Spanish ed., Madrid, 1967: 2:262, no. X-401, pl. 103).

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 309, repro., as by El Greco.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 62, as by El Greco.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 54, repro., as by El Greco.

1969

  • Manzini, Gianna, and Tiziana Frati. L'opera completa del Greco. Milan, 1969: no. 105c-1.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 162, repro., as by El Greco.

1982

  • Pérez Sánchez, Alonso E. "On the Reconstruction of El Greco's Dispersed Altarpieces." In El Greco of Toledo. Exh. cat. Museums in Ohio, Madrid, Washington, and Dallas. Boston, 1982-1983: 168.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 237, no. 304, color repro.as by El Greco.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 186, repro.

1990

  • Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 78-83, repro. 79.

1993

  • Griswold, Susanna P. "Two Paintings by El Greco: Saint Martin and the Beggar." Studies in the History of Art 41 (1993): 133, 136, 140, 142-148, repro. no. 2.

Inscriptions

lower left in cursive Greek: [Do] ménik [os Theotokopoulos]; formerly, unidentified inventory number at lower right: 387

Wikidata ID

Q20176881

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