Lot 243: Attributed to Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo , Cuenca Province circa 1613 - 1667 Madrid Three majas oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 20.2 by 15.1 cm.; 8 by 6 in.

A. L. Mayer, Velazquez: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Pictures and Drawings, London 1936, p. 34, cat. no. 144, reproduced pl. 56, where listed as "Perhaps by Mazo";
J. López-Rey, Velázquez: A Catalogue Raisonné of his Oeuvre, London 1963, p. 165, cat no. 129, reproduced p. 132, pl. 221.

Arthur Kay (c.1862-1939), Glasgow.

Both Mayer and López-Rey (see Literature) have tentatively attributed this painting to del Mazo and have pointed out that the treatment of the figures is very similar to the group of three women in the right of the foreground of the artist's Queen Street at Aranjuez in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (see López-Rey, op. cit. p. 177, cat. no. 160, reproduced p. 131, pl. 218). Arthur Kay (c.1862-1939) was a drapery tycoon from Glasgow and amassed one of the greatest collections of art in Scotland at the end of the nineteenth century. His collection included Degas' famous L'Absinthe of 1875-6 now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.