Lot 195: - Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio , Seville 1640 - 1695/8 (?) Place Unknown Portrait of Ambrosio Ignacio Spínola y Guzmán, Archbishop of Seville (1668-1684) oil on canvas

inscribed along the lower edge: Ill m' et R. m' D.D. Amb.' Ignat.' Spinola et Guzman Archie-/ 'piscop'. Hispalensis, anno Dni 1670 AEtatis Sua 38.~ oil on canvas

measurements note 90.2 by 65.2 cm.; 35 1/2 by 25 3/4 in.

We are grateful to Roberto González-Ramos of the Universidad de Córdoba for endorsing the attribution of this painting to Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio and for suggesting that it is one of several autograph versions painted by Núñez to commemorate the election of the sitter to the Sevillian archbishop See. The versions would have been painted for the archbishop's family, for the church of Seville, and for export to Flanders where the merchant Nicolás de Omazur made an engraving of one. Of the two other known versions, one was sold London, Christie's, 16 December 1998, lot 157, for £36,700; the other is in the Musée Calvet, Avignon.