The presented portrait depicts Juan Mateos, the royal ober-huntsman in Madrid. This circumstance gives him special significance: Velasquez in this case wrote not one of the members of the royal family or jesters who entertained them, what he had to do according to his status as a royal artist. He portrayed the organizer of royal hunting.
In the 1630s and 1640s, the master created a large number of portraits. For two decades they were a whole gallery of representatives of the Spanish society. His paintings are impressive, above all, a striking resemblance to the models, the reliability of the external appearance.
This portrait for a long time was considered to belong to the Rubens brush, since in the style of Velasquez of that period there is a resemblance to Rubens. In 1628, when Rubens visited Madrid, the two artists met and became friends. Nevertheless, the truth triumphed, and the authorship of the portrait was established.
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