MADRID, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The Prado in Madrid has bought the Diego Velazquez portrait "The Pope's Barber" that was offered to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles but turned down.
The Prado paid $27.4 million for the portrait. It had been offered to the Getty for $36 million.
Maureen McGlynn, a spokesman for the super rich Getty Museum founded by the late oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, declined to comment.
A Prado spokesman said sale of the portrait was negotiated by Wildenstein's, a New York dealer. The painting, which had belonged to an unidentified European collector, was painted on a visit to Rome made by the Spanish artist from 1649-51.
"We don't think you can have enough Velazquezes," said Gabriele Finaldi, associate director of the Prado. "While our collection of his paintings cover all areas of his career, what was missing was a work from that second trip he made to Rome."
The Prado, the national museum of Spain, already owns 47 paintings by Velazquez, court painter to King Philip IV. The new acquisition is a portrait of Pope Innocent X's private barber. The artist also painted the pope.
