Juan Mateos (courtier)

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Juan Mateos (c. 1575 – 15 August 1643) was a Spanish horseback hunter and the principal arbalist (crossbowman) to King Philip IV. He was born in Villanueva del Fresno and was the son of Gonzalo Mateos, who served as senior arbalist to the Marquis of Villanueva del Fresno (1601–1606).

Mateos began his career with Margaret of Austria as a crossbowman and hunter. After her death in 1611, he served her husband, Philip III, and later Philip IV.

In 1634 he published Origen y dignidad de la caça (Origin and Dignity of Hunting), a hunting treatise dedicated to the Count-Duke of Olivares. In the dedication he wrote: "I write solely what I have done, and what I have seen; and what I have seen, do."

Mateos’ likeness is known from a bust portrait engraved by Pedro Perete that appears on the front of the book; another illustration is signed by Francisco Collantes.

Some scholars link him with Velázquez’s unfinished portrait of a gentleman (often identified as Don Juan Mateos, c. 1632) and with a scene in Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School.

He died in Madrid on 15 August 1643. At his death, inventories listed two full-length portraits, one of his wife María Marquart and one of himself, valued at 100 reales, though the painter is not named.