SIR PETER BLAKE, R.A. (B. 1932)

In 1993, Peter Blake was invited to become artist in residence at the National Gallery, London. There, he studied the Old Master paintings and produced new works based on the Gallery’s collection. During a temporary exhibition, he had the chance to admire and reproduce the portrait of María Ana de Austria, sister of Philip IV King of Spain, that Velázquez had painted circa 1630 (now in the Prado Museum, Madrid). The present work is, therefore, a homage to the Spanish painter he greatly admired, and to Baroque art.