The sitter is thought to be Niño de Guevara, who was made a cardinal in 1596 and archbishop of Seville in 1601. King Philip III appointed him to the Royal Council and head of the Inquisition. In this capacity he visited Toledo in February and March 1600; he was in the city again in 1601 and 1604. El Greco would have painted this portrait—one of his masterpieces in the genre—on one of these occasions. The artist had lived in Venice, and the work of Titian and the tradition of Venetian portraiture were crucial models for this painting.

This celebrated picture—a landmark in the history of European portraiture—has become synonymous not only with El Greco but with Spain and the Spanish Inquisition. A member of a noble Toledan family, Niño de Guevara rose to prominence under Philip II and was made cardinal in 1596. Philip III made him a member of the Royal Council and Inquisitor General. In 1601 he was made archbishop of Seville. He visited Toledo in 1600, 1601, and 1604. If, as seems increasingly likely, he is the sitter in this portrait, it would probably have been painted in 1600 or 1601.

Identity is clearly crucial to understanding the work and the proposal made by Brown and Carr [Ref. 1982] that the sitter is not Niño de Guevara but Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas (1546–1618), Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo and Niño de Guevara's successor as Inquisitor General in 1608, thus assumes more than passing interest. Their identification is based on the undeniable resemblance of the sitter to two documented portraits of Sandoval, one by Luis Tristán in the chapter house of Toledo Cathedral dated 1619 and the other an engraving dated 1599. However, in neither does Sandoval wear glasses, which seems curious for someone who chose to be portrayed wearing them in a formal portrait. Also Sandoval preferred to trim his beard straight across rather than taper it meticulously to a point, as in El Greco's portrait. The question of resemblance is further complicated by the fact that at some time in its history the MMA portrait was seriously vandalized: the current shape of the bridge of the nose is a reconstruction, based in part on a copy of the painting in the Museo de El Greco, Toledo [see Ref. Pérez Sanchez and Navarrete Prieto 2001]. That painting, in turn, has been very tentatively identified with a portrait of Niño de Guevara attributed to Luis Tristán that is said to have hung in Guevara's funerary chapel in San Pablo, Toledo.

When Brown and Carr first advanced their reidentification, the earlier provenance of the picture was not known, and since by the nineteenth century both the Sandoval and Guevara lines of descent had converged in the Oñate family, the picture could in principle have been inherited from either family. However, another avenue of investigation has traced the picture through the Condes de Añover de Tormes back to Don Pedro Laso de la Vega, the first Conde de los Arcos (died 1637). The Conde de los Arcos was a known patron and collector of El Greco, and a cultural figure of considerable importance in Toledo. At the peak of his career in Madrid he held the post of majordomo to Philip IV [see Refs. Caviró 1985 and Kagan 1995]. He belonged to El Greco's inner circle of intellectual friends, and an inventory of his collection drawn up in 1632 or 1639 lists no fewer than seven paintings by El Greco, including View of Toledo (MMA 29.100.6). In his Madrid residence Don Pedro also had a portrait of "Fernando Niño, Arzobispo de Sevilla, inquisidor general, sentado en silla". Niño de Guevara was his maternal uncle and he could have inherited the painting from his mother. In the inventory no attribution is given, but the inventory lists the names of hardly any artists and the picture carries a very high valuation (100 ducats). According to Caviró [Refs. 1985 and 1990], the picture was sold in 1632 for 880 reales, but what is presumably the same picture reappears in a 1712 inventory of the Arcos fortress at Batres. This is significant, for it was the collection at Batres that Don Pedro entailed, and there is thus a presumption that, like the View of Toledo, this portrait remained with the family and is the one listed in an 1894 inventory of the Condesa de Oñate (again, without attribution). The Oñate picture was shown to the Havemeyers in 1901 and acquired by them in 1904.

It has been frequently noted that the most important models for El Greco's conception were the two splendid portraits by Titian of Pope Paul III Farnese (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples), especially the unfinished, full-length portrait, which appears to have been crucial to El Greco's understanding of portraiture as characterization. It has also been suggested that Velázquez, who deeply admired El Greco's portraits, consciously referred to this masterpiece in his Innocent X (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome), but if the painting was at Batres this is unlikely.

[2011; adapted from Ref. Christiansen et al. 2003]

Inscription: Signed (lower center, on paper, in Greek): Domenikos Theotokopoulos / made this

Rodrigo Las[s]o de la Vega, 2nd Conde de Añover (d. 1620 in Flanders), nephew of Cardinal don Fernando Niño de Guevara; his nephew, Luis Las[s]o de la Vega, 3rd Conde de Añover, Madrid (d. 1632; his inventory 1632, as "Un retrato del Cardl D. Ferdo Niño arçobispo de Sevilla. Inquisidor genl sentado en silla. en cien ducos.", sold for 80 ducados, possibly within the family); his father (and brother of Rodrigo), Pedro Las[s]o de la Vega, 1st Conde de los Arcos (d. 1637; his inventory as "Fernando Niño, Arzobispo de Sevilla, inquisidor general, sentado en silla 100 duc", 1632); Condes de Añover de Tormes; Condes de Oñate, Madrid; María Josefa de la Cerda, Condessa viuda de Oñate, Oñate Palace, Madrid (until 1884; her inventory, no. 747); José Reniero, 16th Conde de Oñate, Oñate Palace, Madrid (from 1891); Conde de Paredes de Nava, Oñate Palace, Madrid (by 1902–04; sold June 1, 1904 for 200,000 pesetas to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1904; sold for Fr 225,000 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1904–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929)

Madrid. Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura. "Exposición de las obras de Domenico Theotocopuli, llamado El Greco," 1902, no. 13 (as portrait of "Cardinal D. Fernando Niño de Guevara, lent by Sr. Conde de Paredes de Nava).

New York. M. Knoedler & Co.. "Loan Exhibition of Paintings by El Greco and Goya," April 2–20, 1912, no. 1.

New York. M. Knoedler & Co.. "Loan Exhibition of Paintings by El Greco and Goya," January 1915, no. 2.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 67 [2nd ed., 1958, no. 192].

Art Institute of Chicago. "A Century of Progress," June 1–November 1, 1933, no. 170.

Brooklyn Museum. "Exhibition of Spanish Painting," October 4–31, 1935, no. 41.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 123.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 53).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A304.

Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado. "Felipe II, un monarca y su época: un príncipe del renacimiento," October 13, 1998–January 10, 1999, no. 138.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "El Greco," October 7, 2003–January 11, 2004, no. 80.

London. National Gallery. "El Greco," February 11–May 23, 2004, no. 80.

Memoria de la almoneda de los bienes del Conde de los Arcos (y Añover) R.° Lasso de la Vega. April 15, 1632 [Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, Señorio de Batres, Ms. 19.429; see Ref. Brown and Carr 1984], lists a portrait of Cardinal don Fernando Niño de Guevara, possibly the present picture.

Miguel Utrillo. "Le Greco." L'art et les artistes 1 (April–September 1905), p. 202, ill., as the Inquisitor, Cardinal Niño de Guevara.

Paul Lafond. "Domenikos Theotokopuli, dit Le Greco." Les arts 5 (October 1906), pp. 21, 28, ill.

Ludwig Zottmann. "Zur Kunst von 'El Greco'." Die christliche Kunst 3 (1906–07), p. 233.

Léonce Bénédite. "Les collections d'art aux États-Unis." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 23 (January–June 1908), p. 164, ill. opposite p. 164.

Manuel B. Cossío. El Greco. Madrid, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 420–24, 595; vol.2, pl. 119 bis (detail), observes that it must have been painted between 1594 and 1604, but was probably made closer to the earlier date; states that a poor copy hangs opposite the Cardinal's tomb in the chapel founded by his ancestors in the Convent of San Pablo Ermitaño, Toledo; says that the MMA portrait perhaps hung in the same chapel before it was withdrawn by the Cardinal's descendants, the Counts of Añover de Tormes, to the Oñate Palace; considers a bust-portrait of the Cardinal in the Kahn collection, Paris [now Reinhart Collection, Winterthur] a replica.

Masters in Art: El Greco 7 (1908), pp. 271, 295, ill., pl. 8, criticizes the execution of the left hand as "not wholly successful".

Albert F. Calvert and C. Gasquoine Hartley. El Greco: An Account of His Life and Works. London, 1909, p. 144, pls. 54, 55 (overall and detail), as don Fernando Neño [sic] de Guevara; claims Velázquez's portrait of Innocent X (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome) was influenced by this painting, but questions whether he could have seen it.

Manuel B. Cossío. El Greco. Barcelona, [191?], p. 27, dates it to the period immediately following the "Burial of the Count of Orgaz" [Santo Tomé, Toledo], between 1590 and 1603.

Maurice Barrès and Paul Lafond. Le Greco. Paris, [1911], pp. 167–68, 89, ill., as formerly in Madrid in the collection of the Count of Paredes de Nava; mention the bust portrait as possibly a study.

William Bode. "More Spurious Pictures Abroad Than in America." New York Times (December 31, 1911), p. SM4.

August L. Mayer. El Greco: Eine Enführung in das Leben und Wirken des Domenico Theotocopuli gennant El Greco. Munich, 1911, pp. 42, 64–66, 81, ill., dates it 1596–97 and calls the bust portrait a study for our painting; sees the influence of this painting in Velázquez's papal portrait [of Innocent X].

Julius Meier-Graefe. "Das Barock Grecos." Kunst und Künstler 10 (1912), pp. 85–86, 92–93, ill. (overall and detail).

N. Sentenach. "Los grandes retratistas en España III, Del Greco á Velázquez." Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones 20 (1912), pp. 179–80, dates it about 1598.

Paul Lafond. Le Greco. Paris, 1913, pp. 88–89, viii, pl. 21, suggests the bust portrait was a first study made from life.

A. de Beruete y Moret. El Greco pintor de retratos: Conferencia dada en Toledo. Madrid, 1914, pp. 18–19, compares our painting to Velázquez's portait of Innocent X noting that, "while in Velázquez all is serene, thought out, classic in every sense of the word, in the work of El Greco that which most attracts the attention is the lack of tranquility, the movement, the negation of all rules".

Hugo Kehrer. Die Kunst des Greco. Munich, 1914, pp. 53–54, pl. 35, dates it after 1596 and dates the bust portrait several years later.

Loan Exhibition of Paintings by El Greco and Goya. Exh. cat., New York M. Knoedler & Co. New York, 1915, pp. 8–9, no. 2, date it "1596 or 1597".

August L. Mayer. "Paintings by El Greco in America, Part One." Art in America 4 (August 1916), pp. 245, 248.

Max Dvorák. "Über Greco und den Manierismus." Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 1 (1921–22), pp. 35, 39–40, ill. (overall and detail).

August L. Mayer. Geschichte der spanischen Malerei. Leipzig, 1922, p. 255.

F. J. Sánchez Cantón. Catálogo de las pinturas del Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan. Madrid, 1923, pp. 179, 239, publishes the 1884 inventory of paintings in the possession of the Condesa viuda de Oñate, including this portrait as no. 747, "Un cuadro: Retrato del Cardenal Guevara".

A. de Beruete y Moret. Conferencias de arte. Madrid, 1924, pp. 119–20, ill. opp. p. 118.

Walter W.S. Cook. "Spanish and French Paintings in the Lehman Collection." Art Bulletin 7 (December 1924), p. 54, notes a resemblance between the sitter in this portrait and the figure of St. Jerome [Lehman Collection].

Elizabeth du Gué Trapier. El Greco. New York, 1925, pp. 52–54, 156, pl. 12.

Hugo Kehrer. Spanische Kunst von Greco bis Goya. Munich, 1926, pp. 91–93, 95, ill., quotes a contemporary poem about Cardinal Niño de Guevara by José de Valdivielso.

August L. Mayer. Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Munich, 1926, pp. xxiv, xxxiii–iv, 52, no. 331, pls. 79, 80 (overall and detail), dates it 1596–1600 and considers the bust portrait a study and not a replica; mentions an old copy of poor quality in the burial chapel of San Pablo Ermitaño, Toledo.

Julius Meier-Graefe. The Spanish Journey. London, 1926, pp. 322–23, recounts the purchase of this picture by Durand-Ruel for 200,000 pesetas.

Malcolm Vaughan. "Portraits by El Greco in America." International Studio 86 (March 1927), p. 24, describes it as the supreme example of El Greco's "fourth period (1594–1600)".

Emilio H. del Villar. El Greco en España. Madrid, 1928, pp. 147–48, pl. 35.

Frank Gray Griswold. El Greco. 1930, unpaginated, pl. 12, dates it 1590–1600.

Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "The Havemeyer Pictures." The Arts 16 (March 1930), pp. 458–59, 480, ill.

"Die Sammlung Havemeyer im Metropolitan-Museum." Pantheon 5 (May 1930), p. 210, observes that since the Cardinal came to Toledo from Rome in 1600 and left Toledo for Seville in 1601, the portrait must date between these two years.

Frank Rutter. El Greco (1541–1614). New York, [1930], pp. 106–7, no. 133.

H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 50–51, ill.

August L. Mayer. El Greco. Berlin, 1931, pp. 130–31, 133, fig. 102.

M. Seuphor. Greco: Considérations sur sa vie et sur quelques unes de ses oeuvres. Paris, 1931, p. 12, dates it 1598.

A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture Lent from American Collections. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1933, pp. 26–27, no. 170, pl. 26.

Raymond Escholier. Greco. Paris, 1937, p. 169, ill., dates it about 1600.

M. Legendre and A. Hartmann. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco. Paris, 1937, pp. 49, 504, ill., date it 1596–1600.

Ludwig Goldscheider. El Greco. London, 1938, p. 26, colorpl. 184, dates it 1600–01.

Hugo Kehrer. Greco als Gestalt des Manierismus. Munich, 1939, p. 81, fig. 17, dates it about 1600.

H. Vollmer in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. 33, Leipzig, 1939, p. 7, lists it with examples of the transition to the artist's late style.

Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 227–29, ill., mistakenly reports that it originally hung opposite the cardinal's tomb in the Convent of San Pablo, Toledo; calls the bust-length portrait at Winterthur a replica made after it.

Kurt Pfister. El Greco. Zürich, 1941, pp. 50, 54, ill., dates it about 1600.

Harry B. Wehle. "A Great Velázquez." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (November 1942), pp. 121–22, ill.

Ignacio de Beryes. Domenicos Theotocopoulos, El Greco. Barcelona, [1944?], p. 19, as from his "second Toledan period".

Walter W.S. Cook. "Spanish Paintings in The National Gallery of Art –1– El Greco to Goya." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 28 (August 1945), p. 75.

Arturo Serrano Plaja. El Greco. Buenos Aires, 1945, pp. 29–32, pl. 38, dates it 1600–01.

Jean Babelon. El Greco. Paris, 1946, pp. 32–33, 37, pl. 62, dates it 1596–1600.

Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 1, p. 464, no. 1228, ill.

Anthony Bertram. El Greco. London, 1949, pl. 39, dates it 1600–01.

Leo Bronstein. El Greco. New York, 1950, pp. 84–85, ill. (color).

José Camón Aznar. Dominico Greco. Madrid, 1950, vol. 2, pp. 1159–63, 1166, 1395, no. 762, ill. (overall and details), as presumably painted in 1600; observes that the Winterthur portrait may be a study although Cossío [Ref. 1908] considers it a replica.

Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 230, no. 123, colorpl. 123.

Max Dvorák. "El Greco and Mannerism." Magazine of Art 46 (January 1953), p. 21.

John F. Matthews. El Greco (Domenicos Theotocopoulos), (1541–1614). New York, 1953, unpaginated, pl. 23, dates it about 1600; notes it is "privately valued at $200,000".

Raymond Cogniat. Histoire de la peinture. 1, [Paris], 1954, vol. 1, p. 130, ill. (color).

Ludwig Goldscheider. El Greco: Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures. 3rd ed. London, 1954, p. 13, ill. (color, frontispiece), dates it about 1598.

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), pp. 4, 30, ill.

Manuel B. Cossío with the assistance of Natalia Cossío de Jiménez in Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Oxford, 1955, pp. 19, 39 n. 48, no. 21, pl. 21, as from his "later period".

Antonina Vallentin. El Greco. Garden City, N.Y., 1955, pp. 209–11, pl. 67.

Paul Guinard. El Greco: Biographical and Critical Study. [Lausanne?], [1956], pp. 66–69, ill. (color, overall and details), dates it about 1600, the year Niño de Guevara visited Toledo as grand inquisitor.

G. Marañón. El Greco y Toledo. Madrid, 1956, pp. 135–36, 200 n. 193, fig. 45, dates it after 1600.

Halldor Soehner. "Greco in Spanien." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 3rd ser., 8 (1957), pp. 171, 173, 177, 180, ill. (overall and detail), dates it 1605–07.

Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño. La pintura española fuera de España. Madrid, 1958, p. 198, no. 1334, dates it 1596–1601; ascribes the copy made for the Condes de Paredes de Nava to Luis Tristán.

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "El Greco's 'Vision of Saint John'." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 17 (June 1959), pp. 241, 258–59, ill.

Martin Soria in George Kubler and Martin Soria. Art and Architecture in Spain and Portugal and their American Dominions, 1500 to 1800. Baltimore, 1959, pp. 223–24, states that a copy of this portrait was made by Luis Tristán in 1612 (now Museo y Casa del Greco, Toledo).

Karl Ipser. El Greco, der Maler des christlichen Weltbildes. Braunschweig, 1960, pp. 194–96, ill., dates it about 1600; agrees with Kehrer [see Ref. 1914] in dating the bust portrait several years later.

Hugo Kehrer. Greco in Toledo: Höhe und Vollendung, 1577–1614. Stuttgart, 1960, pp. 34–35, dates it to 1600.

Martin S. Soria. "Velázquez and Tristán." Varia velazqueña: Homenaje a Velázquez en el III centenario de su muerte, 1660–1960. Madrid, 1960, vol. 1, pp. 457, 462.

Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 97, 132, 138, 141, 152–53, 155–58, 178–79, notes that this picture was found for them by Mary Cassat and that negotiations for its purchase took four years.

Tatjana Kapterewa. Velázquez und die spanische Porträtmalerei. German ed. [first published in Russian, 1956]. Leipzig, 1961, p. 27, colorpl. 15.

Pál Kelemen. El Greco Revisited: Candia, Venice, Toledo. New York, 1961, pp. 80–81, pl. 57C.

Harold E. Wethey. El Greco and His School. Princeton, 1962, vol. 1, 58, 62–63, fig. 334; vol. 2, pp. 95, 205, no. 152, dates it about 1600 and notes that it is only a "supposition" that it originally hung in the church of San Pablo in the place of the poor copy that was seen there in the early twentieth century; observes that "Soria's [1959] attribution of this lost copy to Tristán in the year 1612 and his location of it in the Seminary in Toledo are both erroneous"; further notes that neither Parro (1857), nor Ceán Bermúdez (1800) mentions the Cardinal's portrait in their descriptions of the church, and since they "surely would have done so had the Metropolitan canvas been there at the time, thinks "the nuns must have had it within the convent"; catalogues the bust-portrait as a copy.

Arnold Hauser. Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origin of Modern Art. London, 1965, vol. 1, p. 268; vol. 2, pl. 297, dates it about 1600.

Arthur Linksz. An Ophthalmologist Looks at Art and Artists. Malta, 1965, pp. 8, 10, fig. 6, [reprinted from "Proceedings of the American–Hungarian Medical Association," vol. 1, 1965], describes it as one of the earliest known examples of a person who wears spectacles "for the purpose of seeing," rather than for reading.

Denys Sutton. "The Discerning Eye of Louisine Havemeyer." Apollo 82 (September 1965), p. 231.

Ellis Waterhouse. El Greco. [London], 1965, pp. 5–6, 8, no. 13, colorpl. 13, dates it about 1600–1601.

Georg J. Reimann. El Greco. Leipzig, 1966, pp. 63–65, pl. 63, dates it about 1600; calls the bust portrait a study.

Tiziana Frati. L'opera completa del Greco. Milan, 1969, p. 111, no. 110a, ill., colorpl. 22, dates it about 1596–1600 and calls the bust portrait a replica.

Enrique Lafuente Ferrari. El Greco: The Expressionism of His Final Years. New York, 1969, pp. 69–70, 115, 132, ill. (color), dates it about 1600.

Edith A. Standen in Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. New York, [1970], p. 53, ill. (color).

Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 208 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].

Manuel B. Cossío. El Greco. definitive ed. Barcelona, 1972, pp. 250–253, 393–94, no. 354, fig. 97, dates it 1594–1604; gives the probable provenance as the convento of San Pablo Ermitaño, Toledo.

José Gudiol. El Greco, 1541–1614. New York, 1973, pp. 211–12, 351, no. 173, fig. 191 (color), dates it about 1600; gives provenance as "San Pablo, Toledo (?)".

Jacques Lassaigne. El Greco. London, 1973, pp. 208–9, dates it about 1600.

E. Rainer. "Anmerkungen zur Biographie El Grecos." Das Münster 27 (1974), p. 275, ill., dates it about 1600.

David Davies. El Greco. Oxford, 1976, pp. 9, 14, no. 25, colorpl. 25, dates it probably 1600–1601.

Madlyn Millner Kahr. Velázquez: The Art of Painting. New York, 1976, pp. 111, 113–14, ill. (color), dates it about 1600.

Colin Eisler. "European Schools Excluding Italian." Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. 4, London, 1977, p. 191, as from El Greco's "last decade," when he produced his most penetrating portraits.

Kazimierz Zawanowski. El Greco. Warsaw, 1979, unpaginated, no. 17, ill. (color, overall and detail), dates it about 1600.

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 285, 292, fig. 526 (color).

Arthur Linksz. An Ophthalmologist Looks at Art. San Francisco, 1980, pp. 24, 25, 120–21, ill., notes that the sitter's glasses are fastened around his ears with string.

Katharine Baetjer. "El Greco." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 39 (Summer 1981), pp. 4–5, 39–44, ill. (color, overall and details), as probably painted in 1600; describes the portrait type as descended from Raphael and Titian.

Jonathan Brown and Dawson W. Carr. "'Portrait of a Cardinal': Niño de Guevara or Sandoval y Rojas?" Studies in the History of Art [Figures of Thought: El Greco as Interpreter of History, Tradition, and Ideas] 11 (1982), pp. 33–44, ill. (overall and detail), illustrate a portrait of about 1675–1700 in the Palacio Arzobispal, Seville, supposedly representing Cardinal Niño de Guevara, which they believe is actually based on a 1599 engraving of Cardinal Bernardo Sandoval y Rojas; note that the cardinal in the MMA portrait resembles Sandoval y Rojas as depicted in this engraving and in a portrait by Luis Tristán in Toledo Cathedral painted in 1619, one year after Sandoval's death; conclude that the Seville portrait and the MMA's must represent Cardinal Sandoval, who was elevated to cardinal March 3, 1599, and named archbishop of Toledo six weeks later; further note that there later developed through marriage a connection between the houses of Sandoval and Oñate, and this could account for the early presence of the MMA portrait in the Oñate family collection.

Richard L. Kagan in El Greco of Toledo. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. Boston, 1982, pp. 68–69, 71, 73 n. 117, ill. (color), supports Brown and Carr's identification of the sitter as Cardinal Sandoval y Rojas [see Ref. Brown and Carr 1982].

Edward J. Sullivan. "El Greco of Toledo." Art Journal 42 (Fall 1982), p. 239.

Denys Sutton. "The Aesthete of Toledo." Apollo, n.s., 116 (September 1982), p. 155.

John Walker. Portraits, 5,000 Years. New York, 1983, pp. 123, 125–26, ill. (color), dates it about 1600.

Jonathan Brown and Dawson W. Carr National Gallery of Art. "El "Retrato de un cardenal": ¿símbolo o simulacro?" Visiones del pensamiento: El Greco como intérprete de la historia, la tradición y las ideas [Studies in the History of Art] 11 (1984), pp. 57–73, fig. 14 [due to new archival discoveries, this is a substantial rewrite of Ref. Brown and Carr 1982], cite a 1632 inventory [see Ref. 1632] of the property of Fernando Niño de Guevara's nephew, Rodrigo Lasso de la Vega (d. 1620; his heir was his nephew, Luis, who d. 1632), listing a portrait of "Card. D. Ferdo. Niño arçobispo de Sevilla... vendieronse en 800 reales (80 ducados)," but without giving the painter's name; note that the appraiser, the painter Juan Bautista Maíno, would presumably have recognized El Greco's style and in fact listed other works by him; state that the portrait was sold at the 1632 auction and is not recorded in inventories of the Oñate family (heirs of the Lasso de la Vega family) after 1700, thus our painting cannot be securely identified with it and may not have come to the family until the 19th century; find the features of the sitter close to those of Cardinal Sandoval y Rojas in his contemporary portraits, noting that he was reknowned as a patron of the arts, had actually commissioned an important series of works from El Greco, and might have commissioned a portrait from him; conclude, however, that the arguments favoring identification of our portrait with Niño de Guevara and those favoring his identification as Sandoval y Rojas are equally subjective and circumstantial, and that until a document recording the portrait's commission, or a contemporary portrait of Niño de Guevara comes to light, the identification of the sitter remains an open question; doubt that this portrait was intended to personify the evils of the Spanish Inquisition as is often suggested.

Balbina M. Caviro. "Los Grecos de don Pedro Laso de la Vega." Goya (January–February 1985), pp. 216–17, 222–26, ill., discusses the 1632 inventory [see Refs. 1632, and Brown and Carr 1984], describing the pictures listed in it as the property of Pedro Laso [sic], the ten-year-old son and heir of Luis; notes that a portrait of the Cardinal is not mentioned in either his very detailed will, or in contemporary archives of the convent of San Pablo, and identifies this portrait with the one representing Niño de Guevara included in the Laso inventory; observes that although the picture is not associated with El Greco in this document, its appraisal value and sale price, the second highest of all the pictures cited, would support this association; notes that what appears to have been a copy of the portrait is mentioned in an 1878 document in the convent.

Jeannine Baticle and Alain Roy. L'age Baroque en Espagne et en Europe septentrionale. Geneva, [1986?], p. 45, dates it with El Greco's paintings for the Hospital of Charity, Illescas, 1603–05.

Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 141, 153–55, 206–7, 254, colorpl. 121, describes the history of the acquisition of this painting by the Havemeyers.

Donna Marie Hunter. "Second Nature: Portraits by J.-L. David, 1769–1792." PhD diss., Harvard University, 1988, p. 119.

Nina Ayala Mallory. Del Greco a Murillo: La pintura española del Siglo de Oro, 1556–1700. Madrid, 1991, pp. 50–52, ill., claims that the sitter is probably Cardinal Sandoval y Rojas; dates it about 1600, noting that it was probably painted shortly after his elevation to Archbishop of Toledo in 1599.

Michael Scholz-Hänsel. El Greco: der Großinquisitor, neues Licht auf die schwarze Legende. Frankfurt am Main, 1991, pp. 5–7, 13–20, 26–28, 30, 52, 60, 63, 67–69, 72, 78 n. 87, ill. (overall and details, color detail on cover), identifies the sitter as Niño de Guevara and dates it about 1600; illustrates portraits by Titian, Raphael, and Tintoretto which may be compositional antecedents for this work.

Helmut Feld. Mutmaßungen zur religiösen Bildaussage in Manierismus und Barock: Tintoretto—El Greco—Bernini. Tübingen, 1992, pp. 40–41.

Richard L. Kagan. "The Count of Los Arcos as Collector and Patron of El Greco." Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte 4 (1992), pp. 154, 157, notes that the painting in the inventory of Pedro Laso de la Vega, Conde de los Arcos is "generally thought to be" our portrait, but "the identification of this painting has recently been challenged and its provenance remains in dispute".

José Álvarez Lopera. El Greco: La obra esencial. [Madrid], [1993], pp. 74, 234, 291, no. 252, dates it about 1600; claims the sitter is most likely Cardinal Niño de Guevara.

Katharine Baetjer in "A Portrait and a Landscape by El Greco of Toledo." Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 58–60, ill.

Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. xv, 47, 97, 132, 138, 141, 152–53, 155–59, 177–79, 291, 315 n. 90, p. 320 n. 153, p. 323 n. 179, p. 324 nn. 195, 199, 204, p. 325 n. 215, p. 327 n. 242, p. 345 n. 464.

Susan Alyson Stein in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 229, 233, 236–37.

Gary Tinterow in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 17, 49.

Gretchen Wold in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 346, no. A304, ill.

Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez. "El retrato clásico español." El retrato en el Museo del Prado. Madrid, 1994, pp. 240–41, ill. (color).

Fernando Benito Doménech. "La pittura spagnola dal pieno Rinascimento al Manierismo." La pittura spagnola. Milan, 1995, vol. 1, p. 280.

Albert Boime. "The Americanization of El Greco." El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth. Iráklion, Crete, 1995, p. 621.

María Victoria Gómez Alfeo. "La crítica de 'El Greco,' en la prensa española del primer tercio del siglo XX." Historiografía del arte español en los siglos XIX y XX. Madrid, 1995, pp. 336–37, 339.

Richard L. Kagan. "The Count of Los Arcos as Collector and Patron of El Greco." El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth. Iráklion, Crete, 1995, pp. 330, 333, 335, ill., publishes Pedro Laso de la Vega's 1632 inventory of paintings in Madrid which lists an unattributed portrait of "Fernando Nino, Arzobispo de Sevilla, inquisidor general, sentado en silla 100 duc"; notes that an early-eighteenth-century inventory of the family's estate at Batres lists "un retrato del Cardinal D Fernando Nino" in the oratory.

Sergio Marinelli. "Spazio e proporzione in Domenico Greco." El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth. Iráklion, Crete, 1995, pp. 348, 350, 356, ill., as Cardinal Sandoval y Rojas; notes the similarity between the perspective used in our picture and that of Tintoretto's "Last Supper" (San Polo, Venice).

Michael Scholz-Hänsel. "The Spectacles of the Grand Inquisitor. Counter-Revolutionary Aspects in the Work of El Greco and Humanistic Ideas in the Thinking of Spanish Inquisitors." El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth. Iráklion, Crete, 1995, pp. 295–307, ill., cites the influence of Tintoretto's portraits on our painting; notes that while the pattern of the floor is Italian, the interior setting is typically Spanish; claims that the Cardinal wears "the most progressive glasses of his time," glasses which were attached to the ears by loops of cord; dates it about 1600.

Liudmila Kagané. Diego Velázquez. Bournemouth, 1996, p. 138, ill. (color), dates it about 1600.

Velázquez: "El Papa Inocencio X" de la Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Roma. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 1996, p. 46.

Fernando Marías in The Dictionary of Art. 13, New York, 1996, pp. 343–44, ill., dates it about 1600.

Fernando Marías. Greco: Biographie d'un peintre extravagant. Paris, 1997, pp. 262–63, 308 n. 32, ill. (color), notes that it was appraised in 1632 at 100 ducats [as in Ref. Kagan 1995, but see Ref. Brown and Carr 1984, who give the value as 80 ducats].

Gary Tinterow in La collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1997, pp. 20, 40–41, 107, ill.

Yves Bottineau. Vélasquez. Paris, 1998, p. 238, dates it 1596–1601.

Jonathan Brown in "Fifteenth- to Eighteenth-Century European Paintings." The Robert Lehman Collection. 2, New York, 1998, p. 174, describes this picture as "reidentified as Cardinal Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas".

Trinidad de Antonio in Felipe II, un monarca y su época: un príncipe del renacimiento. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 1998, pp. 468–69, no. 138, ill. (color), dates it about 1600; as "Portrait of a Cardinal".

Veronika Schroeder Universität München. El Greco im frühen deutschen Expressionismus: Von der Kunstgeschichte als Stilgeschichte zur Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte. Frankfurt am Main, 1998, pp. 117–18.

Carmen Bernis. "Una pintura italiana erroneamente atribuída a El Greco: "La Dama del armiño" de Glasgow." El Greco in Italy and Italian Art: Proceedings of the International Symposium. Rethymno, Crete, 1999, p. 207, ill. (color detail).

Anna Coliva. Velázquez a Roma, Velázquez e Roma. Exh. cat., Galleria Borghese. Milan, 1999, p. 96.

José Manuel Pita Andrade in El Greco: Identity and Transformation; Crete, Italy, Spain. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Milan, 1999, pp. 157–58, ill., dates it about 1600.

Jean Louis Schefer. Sommeil du Greco. Paris, 1999, p. 8.

José Álvarez Lopera. El retablo del Colegio de Doña María de Aragón de El Greco. Madrid, 2000, p. 71.

Leticia Ruiz. El Greco. Madrid, 2000, pp. 52–53, 57, ill. (color), dates it 1600–1604.

Felix Scheffler Universität Bochum. Das spanische Stilleben des 17. Jahrhunderts: Theorie, Genese und Entfaltung einer neuen Bildgattung. Frankfurt am Main, 2000, pp. 189–91.

Dawson W. Carr in El Greco. Exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Milan, 2001, pp. 92–95, ill. (color, overall and detail) [English ed., 2001, pp. 50–51].

Gudrun Maurer. Spanish Paintings. Stockholm, 2001, pp. 67–68 n. 18, comments on the similarities between the head of the Cardinal in our painting and that of Saint Paul in El Greco's "Saint Peter and Saint Paul" (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm).

Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Benito Navarrete Prieto. Luis Tristán, h. 1585–1624. Madrid, 2001, pp. 245–46, identifies Tristan's copy (Museo y Casa del Greco, Toledo) as possibly the copy which Ramírez de Arellano [Ref. 1920] and Mayer [Ref. 1931] saw in the church of San Pablo, Toledo, and Soria [Ref. 1959] identified in the Seminario de Toledo.

Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez. "Velázquez e Italia." Velázquez (1599–1999): Visiones y revisiones. Córdoba, 2002, p. 43, mentions this picture as a model for Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X (Gallerie Doria Pamphilj, Rome).

José Álvarez Lopera et al. in El Greco / colaboraciones . . . Barcelona, 2003, pp. 169, 408, colorpl. XLIV.

Keith Christiansen et al. in El Greco. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. London, 2003, pp. 11, 143, 190, 233, 258, 282–85, no. 80, ill. (color, overall and detail), questions the identification of the sitter as Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas [see Ref. Brown and Carr 1982], in spite of an "(undeniable) resemblance" to him as he appears in two documented portraits; notes that in these portraits the subject does not wear glasses "which seems curious for someone who chose to be portrayed wearing them in a formal portrait"; believes the provenance as supplied by Ref. Kagan 1995 lends more support to the identification of the sitter with Niño de Guevara and suggests that El Greco painted this likeness in either 1600 or 1601 when the cardinal was present in Toledo.

José Álvarez Lopera in The Spanish Portrait: From El Greco to Picasso. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. London, 2004, pp. 123, 128, 133–34, fig. 63 (color), as "Portrait of Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevera," from about 1600; comments that it was El Greco's only state portrait, completed between December 1599 and March 1602, or January 1604; remarks that El Greco "broke away from traditional practice by merging the official persona of the sitter and the characterisation of his individual personality".

José Álvarez Lopera. "'El Greco' de Cossío: Gestación y primeras reacciones críticas." El Greco: The First Twenty Years in Spain. Rethymno, Crete, 2005, p. 269, notes that Cossío viewed the sale in the early twentieth century of this painting, the View of Toledo (MMA 29.100.6), and other works by El Greco, as an affront to the Spanish nation.

José Rogelio Buendía. "El Greco: Encuentros en Roma y su proyección en Toledo." El Greco: The First Twenty Years in Spain. Rethymno, Crete, 2005, p. 22, fig. 8, identifies the sitter as Gaspar de Quiroga.

Katharine Baetjer in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, pp. 19–20 [Catalan ed., Barcelona, 2006, p. 18].

Palma Martínez-Burgos García et al. in El Greco & su taller. Exh. cat., Museum of Cycladic Art. Athens, 2007, pp. 33, 203, 205, 392–93, figs. 22 and 24 (overall in color and x-radiographs), notes that although the identity of the sitter in our portrait has been questioned, the sitter in the related painting by Luis Tristán (no. 48, Museo del Greco, Toledo) has been unanimously identified as Don Fernando Niño de Guevara.