Reiterbildnis König Philipps' IV. (nach Velázquez)

'Reiterbildnis König Philipps' IV. (nach Velázquez)' (Equestrian Portrait of King Philip IV, after Velázquez), painted in 1865 and held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, is a copy after Velázquez's celebrated equestrian portrait of Philip IV of Spain. Copy-making from the Old Masters was a central component of a nineteenth-century painter's education in the European tradition, and Velázquez occupied an increasingly important position in this canon during the 1860s as French and German painters rediscovered his technical mastery. The Velázquez equestrian portraits — Philip IV, Philip III, Count-Duke Olivares — were celebrated for their handling of atmosphere, their equine anatomy, and their dignified psychological acuity. For von Marées, studying Velázquez's portrait provided direct lessons in the handling of complex formal problems: the relationship between rider and horse, the treatment of space and atmosphere, and the representation of authority without rhetorical excess.

The copy after Velázquez demonstrates von Marées's ability to absorb the Spanish master's characteristic loose, atmospheric brushwork and silvery-grey palette. Velázquez's treatment of the horse in movement — the hovering quality of the trained dressage posture — is faithfully reproduced, and the sitter's calm authority is maintained. The exercise required a significant technical shift from von Marées's own more structural, warmer approach.