The TEFAF Maastricht’s 2025 edition saw the display of a special exhibition,Velázquez + Michelangelo. Early Modern Women: Devotion, Inspiration, and Global Travel.
The Portrait of Mother Jerónima de la Fuente by Diego Velázquez (c. 1620) is one of the first full-scale portraits conceived by the Spanish Baroque master and a testimony to his precocious talent. The nun depicted, Jerónima, was widely known in seventeenth-century Spain for her devotion, penance, and for her incredible journey across the globe. Setting sail from Cádiz, she travelled across the Atlantic Ocean, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Pacific Ocean to found a nunnery in Manila, the first ever in the Far East. In the painting, Jerónima stands against a dark background and stares directly at the viewer with piercing eyes. Her personality is masterfully conveyed in the painting through the depiction of her face and hands, which clasp a book and a crucifix.
Diego Velázquez, Portrait of Mother Jerónima de la Fuente, c. 1620
Recently rediscovered in 2023, an exquisite cast of a bronze crucifix, Christ on the Cross (c. 1560-70), from a model by Michelangelo Buonarroti, will be shown alongside the painting. It is known that a cast of Michelangelo’s bronze crucifix arrived in Seville in 1597, depicting Christ crucified with four nails, which eventually became the standard model for the representation of the crucifixion across Baroque Spain and its colonies. The cast on display mirrors the crucifix held in Mother Jerónima de la Fuente’s right hand. Velázquez would have been familiar with this model through his time in the workshop of his master Francisco Pacheco. By including the crucifix in his masterpiece, the painter situated the painting within the religious, cultural, and artistic milieu of Seville in the seventeenth century.
After a model by Michelangelo Buonarotti, Christ on the Cross, Cast c. 1560-1570
The gallery also featured an extraordinary terracotta Tripod by Joseph Chinard, a rare and sophisticated example of the artist’s craftsmanship. This Tripod showcased the sculptor’s interpretation of classical antiquity and contemporary French design. It remained in the artist’s workshop at his death and was rediscovered in the early twentieth century, when it was exhibited at the Louvre’s seminal 1909 monographic exhibition.
Joseph Chinard, Tripod, Athénienne, c. 1793
The Tripod was purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art during the fair. Further sales included Pietro Tacca's Saint Sebastian.
Pietro Tacca, Saint Sebastian, Modelled and cast c. 1610-1615
Stuart Lochhead Sculpture is renowned for presenting exceptional works that captivate world class museums and has a history of significant museum sales at TEFAF Maastricht. Notable successes include a bust by François Girardon acquired by the Château de Versailles (2020), a French Renaissance Madonna and Child sold to the Kimbell Art Museum (2022), and a rare terracotta relief by Massimiliano Soldani purchased by the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts (2023). In 2024, a rare cast of Striding Mars by Giambologna was acquired by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
