Getty acquires rediscovered Velázquez portrait, first by master in collection

The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired a long-lost 17th-century portrait by Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, bringing the first work by the Baroque master into the museum’s permanent collection. The oil painting, titled Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares, was officially announced by the Los Angeles museum on 23 September 2026. Before its recent discovery in a private European collection, art historians knew the image only through a famous 17th-century engraving by Flemish printmaker Paulus Pontius, created in collaboration with Peter Paul Rubens. It is the first Velázquez painting held by a museum on the West Coast of the United States. The work will go on public display at the Getty Center’s East Pavilion in Los Angeles before traveling to Michigan for a museum exhibition next year.First Velázquez painting for Getty collectionThe acquisition fills an important gap in the Getty Museum’s collection.