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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Portrait of a Doctor

painting by El Greco

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ5560923 ↗
Source-derived summary

Portrait of a Doctor (Spanish: Retrato de un médico) is an oil painting by El Greco.

Painted in Toledo between 1582 and 1585, and on display at the Museo del Prado, some authors suggest the portrait of the anonymous doctor (as defined by his thumb ring) may either be that of Luis de Mercado, Felipe II's chamber doctor, or of Rodrigo de la Fuente, a friend of El Greco.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Portrait of a Doctor” as painting by El Greco. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Portrait, Doctor and painting.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1582, 1585—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1585-01-01, 1582-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Portrait, Doctor and painting providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Portrait of a Doctor”, the useful work is to connect “painting by El Greco” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5560923. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1582 and 1585.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Portrait of a Doctor”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Portrait of a Doctor primary sources, Portrait of a Doctor archive and Portrait research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Portrait of a Doctor”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Portrait of a Doctor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.