Juan Francisco Pimentel, conde de Benavente

Velazquez painted this in 1648, and we can date it almost to the month, because the sitter wears the collar of the Golden Fleece, an honour he received only that May. He is the Count of Benavente, a Spanish grandee and general who had led troops against the revolts in Portugal and Catalonia, and Velazquez shows him half-length in dark armour with the crimson sash of high command, his helmet and baton laid on a table. It was among the last things the painter finished before he left Madrid on his second journey to Italy, where he would paint the pope.