Asta Bidspirit | Portrait of the Duke of

Portrait of the Duke of Feria with Captain General's Command Staff, Spain or Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish or Colonial School of the 17th Century - Oil on canvas. Framed measurements: 219 x 129, canvas measurements: 191 x 100 cm. Born in Malinas (Netherlands) and was the only surviving son of the 1st Duke, since his brother Pedro, born in Zafra in 1565, died at three months of age. When his father died, he was only twelve years old and had not yet been properly instructed in the courtly career, which was taken care of by his mother, Jane Dormer, who also instilled in him her deep Catholicism, and his uncle the Bishop of Sigüenza. He being a brawler of fame as a gallant and quarrelsome, to the point that he was arrested twice by orders of the King. He served Felipe II and Felipe III as extraordinary ambassador in Rome (1591-1592) in the times of Pope Clement VIII from whom he obtained relics and indulgences, extraordinary ambassador in France (1593-1595), viceroy and captain general of Catalonia (1596-1602). ), Viceroy of Sicily (1603-1607). He was a patron of poets and humanists, especially the poet Enrique Cook and the humanist Pedro de Valencia. He died in 1607, after 17 years of widowhood, at the residence of the Viceroy of Naples. He is buried in the funerary or ducal chapel of the monastery of Santa María del Valle de Zafra, a chapel that he himself ordered to be built in the first part of the 17th century.