Christ and the Centurion

The Earl of Arundel, the greatest English collector of his day, died in 1646 and his paintings scattered across northern Europe. In 1654 Luis de Haro, chief minister to Philip IV, instructed the Spanish agent Alonso de Cárdenas to secure two of them. A painter working for Cárdenas made the purchase in Amsterdam, and the accounts note the payment on 26 April 1659, 400 pounds. Haro handed the picture to the king, who sent it to the monastery of El Escorial. In 1667 the monk Francisco de los Santos praised it there in the prior's chapter house, and complained that its colours had already dulled, especially in Christ's cloak. Veronese had painted it around 1571, the centurion of Matthew's gospel kneeling before Christ against a strongly lit architecture of Palladian inspiration, the gestures and costumes taken from the stage practice of his own day.