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‘She has this power’: nun’s crucifix links Michelangelo to Velázquez

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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez painted the portrait of Mother Jerónima de la Fuente in 1620 .

Alongside it will be a bronze cast of the body of Christ, thought to have been modelled by Michelangelo , which inspired the crucifix brandished by the nun.

The works will go on show from 15 March at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht , the Netherlands .

Given the nun's demeanour and devotion, the dealer doubts she would have been steered into doing anything that she did not want to do.

He is loath to do more than fantasise about whether the corpus held in the nun’s grip in 1620 was the same cast that arrived in Seville 23 years earlier .

Lochhead thinks it unlikely the two works will stay together.