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Diego de Guevara (c. 1450 – 1520) was a Spanish courtier and ambassador who served four, and possibly five, successive dukes of Burgundy. He may have started his service when quite young, as a page or valet de chambre, rising through the ranks to become chamberlain by 1501, and mayordomo mayor (high steward) to the king of Spain in 1518.
It is uncertain that this oil-on-panel portrait by Michael Sittow, created around 1515 to 1518, depicts de Guevara. It was once the right-hand portion of a diptych, the left half being a Madonna and Child, now in the Berlin State Museums. The two oak panels have been linked by historical and pictorial details; the ornate carpet covering the stone parapet on which de Guevara's hand rests is identical to the one in the other image. When the two panels of the diptych were attached, de Guevara would have been gazing down at the young child. This painting is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.Painting credit: Michael Sittow