Diego Velásquez’s “Portrait of Count-Duke of Olivares” (approximately 1626) will be on view at the Getty Center this fall. (photo courtesy of the Getty Museum)

The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired a recently rediscovered portrait by 17th century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, bringing a work by the artist into the museum’s collection for the first time.

“Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares,” painted around 1626, will go on view this fall in the Getty Center’s East Pavilion. The oil-on-canvas work measures approximately 23 and 5/8 inches by 18 and 7/8 inches, and depicts Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, better known as the Count-Duke of Olivares.

Olivares served as the chief minister to Spain’s King Philip IV and was a major figure in Spanish government for more than two decades. In the bust-length portrait, Olivares appears in gold-trimmed armor and a red sash, turning toward the viewer. Velázquez painted Olivares numerous times during his career.

“Velázquez was one of the greatest painters of early modern Europe and one of the most remarkable proponents of the long and multifaceted tradition of state portraiture,” J. Paul Getty Museum Director Timothy Potts said. “This work is a landmark addition to Getty’s collection, made even more extraordinary by the painting’s history as it was not fully known until recently.”

The museum believes Velázquez likely painted the portrait as a diplomatic gift for Cardinal Francesco Barberini during his embassy to Madrid in the summer of 1626. A 1631 inventory of the Barberini collection in Rome records a painting depicting the head and armored bust of Olivares, which the museum believes likely refers to the newly acquired work.

The painting is believed to have remained in Italy and was recorded in the Coppellotti collection in Asti during the 20th century. It remained with the family until it was acquired by a private collector in 2025 and subsequently sold to the Getty Museum.

Before its rediscovery, the portrait was known through an engraving by Paulus Pontius that was designed by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. Inscriptions on the print indicate that the likeness of Olivares was based on a portrait by Velázquez, while Rubens designed its elaborate allegorical setting. The museum said the rediscovered painting is the prototype used for the engraving.

The work came to the attention of Salvador Salort-Pons, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts and a scholar of 17th-century Spanish painting, while he was preparing an exhibition devoted to portraits of Olivares. Salort-Pons encountered the previously unknown painting in a private collection.

Technical examination subsequently revealed numerous “pentimenti,” or changes made during the painting process, showing that Velázquez revised elements of Olivares’ clothing and armor.

“This commanding and almost intimidating portrait is a strong visual record of one of Spain’s most powerful 17th-century statesmen that exemplifies the painter’s innovation in court portraiture and his superb ability to capture the sitter’s personality directly from life,” Getty Museum senior curator of paintings Davide Gasparrotto said.

Approximately 120 paintings by Velázquez are known to survive, with about 50 held by the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. The portrait is the first Velázquez painting to enter the Getty’s collection and, according to the museum, the first work by the artist to reside on the West Coast.

After its presentation at the Getty Center, the painting will travel to the Detroit Institute of Arts for “Velázquez & Olivares: Early Years at Court,” which runs from Jan. 24-July 25, 2027.

The J. Paul Getty Museum is located at 1200 Getty Center Dr.

For information, visit getty.edu.