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Diego Velázquez

 
Diego Velázquez

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Diego Velázquez



 
 
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660) was a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 painter
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
 who was the leading artist in the court
Noble court

A royal or noble court, as an instrument of government broader than a court, comprises an extended household centred on a patron whose rule may govern law or be governed by it....
 of King Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain

Philip IV , was List of Spanish monarchs between 1621 and 1665, Sovereignty of the Spanish Netherlands, and List of Portuguese monarchs until 1640....
. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque
Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
 period, important as a portrait artist
Portrait painting

Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait....
. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas
Las Meninas

Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Vel?zquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted....
 (1656).

From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the realist
Realism (arts)

Realism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation....
 and impressionist
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
 painters, in particular Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet

?douard Manet , 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883, was a French Painting. One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from realism to Impressionism....
.






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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660) was a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 painter
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
 who was the leading artist in the court
Noble court

A royal or noble court, as an instrument of government broader than a court, comprises an extended household centred on a patron whose rule may govern law or be governed by it....
 of King Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain

Philip IV , was List of Spanish monarchs between 1621 and 1665, Sovereignty of the Spanish Netherlands, and List of Portuguese monarchs until 1640....
. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque
Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
 period, important as a portrait artist
Portrait painting

Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait....
. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas
Las Meninas

Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Vel?zquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted....
 (1656).

From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the realist
Realism (arts)

Realism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation....
 and impressionist
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
 painters, in particular Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet

?douard Manet , 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883, was a French Painting. One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from realism to Impressionism....
. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego Jos? Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mar?a de los Remedios Cipriano de la Sant?sima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish people Painting, drawing, and Sculpture....
 and Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal? i Dom?nech, 1st Marquis of P?bol was a Spain Catalonia surrealist painter born in Figueres.Dal? was a skilled Technical drawing, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealism work....
, as well as the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (painter)

Francis Bacon was an Ireland born British figurative painter. Bacon's artwork is known for its bold, austere, homoerotic and often violent or nightmarish imagery, which typically shows room-bound masculine figures isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds....
, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.

Early life

Born in Seville
Seville

||-||}Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville ....
, Andalusia
Andalusia

Andalusia is a country in the Spanish State. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen autonomous communities of the Spain....
, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 early on June 6, 1599, and baptized on June 6, Velázquez was the son of Juan Rodríguez de Silva (born João Rodrigues da Silva), a lawyer whose parents, Diogo da Silva and wife Maria Rodrigues, were Portuguese Jews, and Jerónima Velázquez, a member of the hidalgo
Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)

Since at least the VIIth century, the words fijo dalgo and "fidalgo" were used in the the territories that would be Kingdom of Castile as synonym of noble,though in colloquial use is mostly used to refer to the untitled or not wealthy nobility....
 class, an order of minor aristocracy
Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number....
 (it was a Spanish custom, in order to maintain a legacy of maternal inheritance, for the eldest male to adopt the name of his mother). Recent archival investigations carried out by Mendez, Ingram and others not only reject his aristocratic origins, but have brought to light that he belonged to the Jewish converso
Converso

Conversos and its feminine form conversa referred to Jews or Muslims or the descendants of Jews or Muslims who converted to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries....
  lineage. He was educated by his parents to fear God and, intended for a learned profession, received good training in language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
s and philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
. But he showed an early gift for art; consequently, he began to study under Francisco de Herrera
Francisco Herrera the Elder

File:La curaci?n de San Buenaventura ni?o por San Francisco.jpgFrancisco Herrera was a distinguished Spanish painter, born at Seville. He was the founder of the Seville school....
, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian influence of the early Seville school. Velázquez remained with him for one year. It was probably from Herrera that he learned to use brushes with long bristles.

After leaving Herrera's studio when he was 12 years old, Velázquez began to serve as an apprentice under Francisco Pacheco
Francisco Pacheco

Francisco Pacheco was a Spain Painting, best known as the teacher of Diego Vel?zquez and Alonso Cano, and for his textbook on painting that is an important source for the study of 17th-century practice in Spain....
, an artist and teacher in Seville. Though considered a generally dull, undistinguished painter, Pacheco sometimes expressed a simple, direct realism in contradiction to the style of Raphael
Raphael

Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone was an Italy Painting and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings....
 that he was taught. Velázquez remained in Pacheco's school for five years, studying proportion and perspective and witnessing the trends in the literary and artistic circles of Seville.

To Madrid (early period)

Diegovelazquez Viejafriendohuevos
By the early 1620s, his position and reputation were assured in Seville. In 1618, Velázquez married Juana Pacheco (June 1, 1602-August 10, 1660), the daughter of his teacher. She bore him two daughters—his only known family. The younger, Ignacia de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco, died in infancy, while the elder, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco (1619-1658), married painter Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo

name = Juan Bautista Mart?nez del Mazo| image = The Family of the Artist by Juan Bautista Matinez del Mazo.jpg| imagesize = 300px...
 at the Church of Santiago in Madrid on August 21 1633.

Velázquez produced other notable works in this time. Sacred subjects are depicted in Adoración de los Reyes (1619, The Adoration of the Magi), and Jesús y los peregrinos de Emaús (1626, Christ and the Pilgrims of Emmaus), both of which begin to express his more pointed and careful realism.

Madrid and Philip IV


Velázquez went to Madrid
Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
 in the first half of April 1622, with letters of introduction to Don Juan de Fonseca, himself from Seville, who was chaplain to the King. At the request of Pacheco, Velázquez painted the portrait of the famous poet Luis de Góngora y Argote. Velázquez painted Góngora crowned with a laurel wreath, but painted over it at some unknown later date. It is possible that Velázquez stopped in Toledo
Toledo, Spain

Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital city of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous communities of Spain of Castile-La Mancha....
 on his way from Seville, on the advice of Pacheco, or back from Madrid on that of Góngora, a great admirer of El Greco
El Greco

El Greco was a painting, sculpture, and architecture of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek alphabet, ????????? Te?t???p????? ....
, having composed a poem on the occasion of his death.

In December 1622, Rodrigo de Villandrando
Rodrigo de Villandrando (painter)

File:Villandrando infante felipe.jpgRodrigo de Villandrando was a court painter during the reign of Philip III of Spain. He worked in the tradition of Alonso S?nchez Coello and Juan Pantoja de la Cruz....
, the king's favorite court painter, died. Don Juan de Fonseca conveyed to Velázquez the command to come to the court from the Count-Duke of Olivares, the powerful minister of Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain

Philip IV , was List of Spanish monarchs between 1621 and 1665, Sovereignty of the Spanish Netherlands, and List of Portuguese monarchs until 1640....
. He was offered 50 ducat
Ducat

The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade currency throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight, actual gold weight....
s (175 g of gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
—worth about
Euro

The euro is the official currency of 16 out of 27 European Union member state of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain....
2000 in 2005) to defray his expenses, and he was accompanied by his father-in-law. Fonseca lodged the young painter in his own home and sat for a portrait himself, which, when completed, was conveyed to the royal palace. A portrait of the king was commissioned. On August 16 1623, Philip IV sat for Velázquez. Complete in one day, the portrait was likely to have been no more than a head sketch, but both the king and Olivares were pleased. Olivares commanded Velázquez to move to Madrid, promising that no other painter would ever paint Philip's portrait and all other portraits of the king would be withdrawn from circulation. In the following year, 1624, he received 300 ducats from the king to pay the cost of moving his family to Madrid, which became his home for the remainder of his life.

Through a bust portrait of the king, painted in 1623, Velázquez secured admission to the royal service, with a salary of 20 ducats per month, besides medical attendance, lodgings and payment for the pictures he might paint. The portrait was exhibited on the steps of San Felipe and was received with enthusiasm. It is now lost. The Museo del Prado
Museo del Prado

The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
, however, has two of Velázquez's portraits of the king (nos. 1070 and 1071) in which the severity of the Seville period has disappeared and the tones are more delicate. The modeling is firm, recalling that of Antonio Mor, the Dutch portrait painter of Philip II
Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, List of monarchs of Naples from 1554 until 1598, king consort of England, as husband of Mary I of England, from 1554 to 1558, lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories, such as Duke or Count; and King of Portugal as Philip I...
, who exercised a considerable influence on the Spanish school. In the same year, the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
) arrived at the court of Spain. Records indicate that he sat for Velázquez, but the picture is now lost.

In September 1628, Peter Paul Rubens
Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality....
 came to Madrid as an emissary from the Infanta Isabella, and Velázquez kept his company among the Titian
Titian

File:Tizian 090.jpg Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, born 1473/1490 , died 27 August 1576, better known as Titian , was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venice school of the Italian Renaissance....
s at the Escorial. Rubens was then at the height of his powers. The seven months of the diplomatic mission showed Rubens' brilliance as painter and courtier. Rubens had a high opinion of Velázquez, but he effected no great change in his painting. He reinforced Velázquez's desire to see Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 and the works of the great Italian masters. In 1627, Philip set a competition for the best painters of Spain with the subject to be the expulsion of the Moors
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
. Velázquez won. His picture was destroyed in a fire at the palace in 1734. Recorded descriptions of it say that it depicted Philip III
Philip III of Spain

Philip III was the monarch of Spain and King of Portugal, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death. His Political minister was the Francisco Gom?z de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma....
 pointing with his baton to a crowd of men and women driven off under charge of soldiers, while the female personification of Spain sits in calm repose. Velázquez was appointed gentleman usher as reward. Later he also received a daily allowance of 12 réis
Brazilian real

The real is the present-day currency of Brazil and was also the currency during the period 1690 to 1942. When the first real circulated, the plural used was r?is....
, the same amount allotted to the court barbers, and 90 ducats a year for dress. Five years after he painted it in 1629, as an extra payment, he received 100 ducats for the picture of Bacchus
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
 (The Feast of Bacchus). The spirit and aim of this work are better understood from its Spanish name, Los Borrachos (The Drunks) or Los Bebedores (the drinkers), who are paying mock homage to a half-naked ivy-crowned young man seated on a wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
 barrel. The painting is firm and solid, and the light and shade are more deftly handled than in former works. Altogether, this production may be taken as the most advanced example of the first style of Velázquez.

Italian period

In 1629, he went to live in Italy for a year and a half. Though his first Italian visit is recognized as a crucial chapter in the development of Velázquez's style - and in the history of Spanish Royal Patronage, since Philip IV sponsored his trip - we know rather little about the details and specifics: what the painter saw, whom he met, how he was perceived and what innovations he hoped to introduce into his painting. It is canonical to divide the artistic career of Velázquez by his two visits to Italy, with his second grouping of works following the first visit and his third grouping following the second visit. This somewhat arbitrary division may be accepted though it will not always apply, because, as is usual in the case of many painters, his styles at times overlap each other. Velázquez rarely signed his pictures, and the royal archives give the dates of only his most important works. Internal evidence and history pertaining to his portraits supply the rest to a certain extent.

Return to Madrid (middle period)

Velázquez then painted the first of many portraits of the young prince and heir to the Spanish throne, Don Baltasar Carlos, looking dignified and lordly even in his childhood, in the dress of a field marshal on his prancing steed. The scene is in the riding school of the palace, the king and queen looking on from a balcony, while Olivares attends as master of the horse to the prince. Don Baltasar died in 1646 at the age of seventeen, so, judging by his age in the portrait, it must have been painted in about 1641.

The powerful minister Olivares was the early and constant patron of the painter. His impassive, saturnine face is familiar to us from the many portraits painted by Velázquez. Two are notable; one is a full-length, stately and dignified, in which he wears the green cross of the order of Alcantara
Order of Alcántara

The Order of Alc?ntara was originally a military order of Kingdom of Le?n, founded in the 12th century....
 and holds a wand, the badge of his office as master of the horse, the other, a great equestrian portrait in which he is flatteringly represented as a field marshal during action. In these portraits, Velázquez has well repaid the debt of gratitude that he owed to his first patron, whom Velázquez stood by during Olivares's fall from power, thus exposing himself to the great risk of the anger of the jealous Philip. The king, however, showed no sign of malice towards his favorite painter.

The sculptor Montafles modeled a statue of one of Velázquez's equestrian portraits of the king, painted in 1636, which was cast in bronze by the Florentine
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
 sculptor Pietro Tacca
Pietro Tacca

Pietro Tacca was an Italy sculptor, who was the chief pupil and follower of Giambologna. Tacca began in a Mannerism style and worked in the Baroque style during his maturity....
 and which now stands in the Plaza de Oriente at Madrid. The original of this portrait no longer exists, but several others do. Velázquez, in this and in all his portraits of the king, depicts Philip wearing the
golilla, a stiff linen collar projecting at right angles from the neck. It was invented by the king, who was so proud of it that he celebrated it by a festival followed by a procession to the church to thank God for the blessing. Thus, the golilla was the height of fashion, and appeared in most of the male portraits of the period.

Velázquez was in constant and close attendance on Philip, accompanying him in his journeys to Aragon
Aragon

Aragon is an autonomous communities of Spain of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces of Spain from north to south: Huesca , Zaragoza , and Teruel ....
 in 1642 and 1644, and was doubtless present with him when he entered Lerida as a conqueror. It was then that he painted a great equestrian portrait in which the king is represented as a great commander leading his troops—a role which Philip never played except in pageantry. All is full of animation except the stolid face of the king. It hangs as a pendant to the great Olivares portrait—fit rivals of the neighboring Charles V by Titian
Titian

File:Tizian 090.jpg Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, born 1473/1490 , died 27 August 1576, better known as Titian , was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venice school of the Italian Renaissance....
, which inspired Velázquez to excel himself, and both remarkable for their silvery tone and their feeling of open air.

Diegovelazquez Juandepareja

Portraiture
Besides the forty portraits of Philip by Velázquez, he painted portraits of other members of the royal family: Philip's first wife, Elisabeth of Bourbon, and her children, especially her eldest son, Don Baltasar Carlos, of whom there is a beautiful full-length in a private room at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal entertaining, and a major tourist attraction....
. Cavaliers, soldiers, churchmen, and the prominent poet Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco de Quevedo

Francisco G?mez de Quevedo y Santib??ez Villegas was a nobleman, politician and writer of the Siglo de Oro. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de G?ngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age....
 (now at Apsley House
Apsley House

Apsley House, also known as Number One, London, was the London residence of the Duke of Wellington and stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, London, facing south towards the busy traffic circulation system....
), sat for Velázquez.

One wonders who the beautiful
Beautiful

Beautiful is an adjective used to describe things as possessing beauty.Beautiful can also refer to one of the following.In music:...
 woman can be who adorns the Wallace collection, a brunette so unlike the usual fair-haired female sitters to Velázquez. This picture is one of the ornaments of the Wallace collection. However, if few ladies of the court of Philip have been depicted, Velázquez painted several of his buffoons and dwarfs. Velázquez appears to represent them with respect and sympathetically, as in
El Primo (1644, English: The Favorite), whose intelligent face and huge folio with ink-bottle and pen by his side show him to be a wiser and better-educated man than many of the gallants of the court. Pablo de Valladolid (1635, English: Paul of Valladolid), a buffoon evidently acting a part, and El Bobo de Coria (1639, English: The Buffoon of Coria) belong to this middle period.

The greatest of the religious paintings by Velázquez also belongs to this middle period, the
Cristo Crucificado (1632, English: Christ on the Cross). It is a work of tremendous originality, depicting Christ immediately after death. The Savior's head hangs on his breast and a mass of dark tangled hair conceals part of the face. The figure stands alone. The picture was lengthened to suit its place in an oratory, but this addition has since been removed. Some believe that the man in this painting is his uncle.

Velázquez's son-in-law Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo

name = Juan Bautista Mart?nez del Mazo| image = The Family of the Artist by Juan Bautista Matinez del Mazo.jpg| imagesize = 300px...
 had succeeded him as usher in 1634, and Mazo himself had received a steady promotion in the royal household. Mazo received a pension of 500 ducats in 1640, increased to 700 in 1648, for portraits painted and to be painted, and was appointed inspector of works in the palace in 1647.

Philip now entrusted Velázquez with carrying out a design on which he had long set his heart: the founding of an academy
Academy

An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, north of Ancient Athens, Greece....
 of art in Spain. Rich in pictures, Spain was weak in statuary, and Velázquez was commissioned once again to proceed to Italy to make purchases.

Second Visit to Italy

Accompanied by his manservant Juan de Pareja
Juan de Pareja

Juan de Pareja , a native of Seville and mulatto son of a female slave, is primarily known as a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Vel?zquez....
, whom he trained in painting, Velázquez sailed from Málaga
Málaga

M?laga is a port city in Andalusia, southern Spain, on the Costa del Sol coast of the Mediterranean. At the 2007 census the population is 576,725....
 in 1649, landing at Genoa
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
, and proceeded from Milan to Venice, buying paintings of Titian
Titian

File:Tizian 090.jpg Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, born 1473/1490 , died 27 August 1576, better known as Titian , was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venice school of the Italian Renaissance....
, Tintoretto
Tintoretto

Tintoretto was one of the greatest painters of the Venetian school and probably the last great painter of the Italian Renaissance. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso, and his dramatic use of perspectival space and special lighting effects make him a precursor of baroque art....
 and Veronese
Paolo Veronese

Paolo Veronese was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi....
 as he went. At Modena
Modena

Modena is a city and a comune on the south side of the Padan Plain, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.An ancient town, it is the seat of an archbishop, but is now best known as "the capital of engines", since the factories of the famous Italian sports car makers Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and...
 he was received with much favor by the duke, and here he painted the portrait of the duke at the Modena gallery and two portraits that now adorn the Dresden
Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Germany Federal Free state of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon triangle metropolitan area....
 gallery, for these paintings came from the Modena sale of 1746.

Those works presage the advent of the painter's third and latest manner, a noble example of which is the great portrait of Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X

Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle Girolamo Pamphilj as auditor of the Rot...
 in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery
Doria Pamphilj Gallery

The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome. It is situated between the Via del Corso and Via della Gatta....
 in Rome, where Velázquez now proceeded. There he was received with marked favor by the Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
, who presented him with a medal and golden chain. Velázquez took a copy of the portrait—which Sir Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds Royal Academy Royal Society Royal Society of Arts was an important and influential 18th century English Painting, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealisation of the imperfect....
 thought was the finest picture in Rome—with him to Spain. Several copies of it exist in different galleries, some of them possibly studies for the original or replicas painted for Philip. Velázquez, in this work, had now reached the
manera abreviada, a term coined by contemporary Spaniards for this bolder, sharper style. The portrait shows such ruthlessness in Innocent's expression that some in the Vatican
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
 feared that Velázquez would meet with the Pope's displeasure, but Innocent was well pleased with the work, hanging it in his official visitor's waiting room.

In 1650 in Rome Velázquez also painted a portrait of his servant,
Juan de Pareja
Juan de Pareja

Juan de Pareja , a native of Seville and mulatto son of a female slave, is primarily known as a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Vel?zquez....
, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile, New York City in New York City, USA....
 in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
. This portrait procured his election into the Academy of St. Luke. Purportedly Velázquez created this portrait as a warm-up of his skills before his portrait of the Pope. It captures in great detail Pareja's countenance and his somewhat worn and patched clothing with an impressive economy of brushwork; it is one of his best known pieces of portraiture.

Return to Spain (later period)

King Philip wished that Velázquez return to Spain; accordingly, after a visit to Naples
Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
, where he saw his old friend José Ribera, he returned to Spain via Barcelona
Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081....
 in 1651, taking with him many pictures and 300 pieces of statuary, which afterwards were arranged and cataloged for the king. Undraped sculpture was, however, abhorrent to the Spanish Church, and after Philip's death these works gradually disappeared. Isabella of Bourbon
Isabella of Bourbon

Isabella of Bourbon was the second wife of Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais and future Duke of Burgundy. She was a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, and the mother of Mary of Burgundy ....
 had died in 1644, and the king had married Marie-Anne of Austria, whom Velázquez now painted in many attitudes. He was specially chosen by the king to fill the high office of
aposentador mayor, which imposed on him the duty of looking after the quarters occupied by the court—a responsible function which was no sinecure and one which interfered with the exercise of his art. Yet far from indicating any decline, his works of this period are amongst the highest examples of his style.

Las Meninas

(1656, English: The Maids of Honour)]] One of the infantas, Margarita, the eldest daughter of the new Queen, appears to be subject of Las Meninas
Las Meninas

Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Vel?zquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted....
 (1656, English: The Maids of Honour), Velázquez's magnum opus
Magnum opus

Magnum opus , from the Latin meaning great work, refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer....
. However, in looking at the various viewpoints of the painting it is unclear as to who or what is the true subject. Is it the royal daughter, or perhaps the painter himself? The answer may lie in the image on the back wall, depicting the King and Queen. Is this image a mirror, in which case the King and Queen are standing where we stand? Are they the subject of Velazquez's work? Or is the work simply a court painting? Much is still in speculation about the true subject of this masterpiece, and many of the questions that we ask may never be truly answered.

Created four years before his death, it serves as an outstanding example of the European baroque
Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
 period of art. An apotheosis of the work has been effected since its creation; Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano

Luca Giordano was an Italy late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching....
, a contemporary Italian painter, referred to it as the "theology of painting," and the eighteenth century the Englishman Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence (painter)

Sir Thomas Lawrence Royal Academy , was a notable England Painting, mostly of portraits.He was born in Bristol. His father was an innkeeper, first at Bristol and afterwards at Devizes, and at the age of six Lawrence was already being shown off to the guests of the Bear as an infant prodigy who could sketch their likenesses and declaim sp...
 cited it as the "philosophy of art," so decidedly capable of producing its desired effect. That effect has been variously interpreted; Dale Brown points out an interpretation that, in inserting within the work a faded portrait of the king and queen hanging on the back wall, Velázquez has ingeniously prognosticated the fall of the Spanish empire
Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies ruled by Spain in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania between the 15th and late 19th centuries....
 that was to gain momentum following his death. Another interpretation is that the portrait is in fact a mirror, and that the painting itself is in the perspective of the King and Queen, hence their reflection can be seen in the mirror on the back wall.

It is said the king painted the honorary Cruz Roja (Red Cross) of the Orden de Santiago (Order of Santiago
Order of Santiago

This article deals with the Spanish Order of knighthood. For the Portuguese Order, see Order of St. James of the Sword.File:Ucles Cuenca Espa?a Monasterio y Castillo....
) on the breast of the painter as it appears today on the canvas. However, Velázquez did not receive this honor of knighthood until three years after execution of this painting. Even the King of Spain could not make his favorite a belted knight without the consent of the commission established to inquire into the purity of his lineage. The aim of these inquiries would be to prevent the appointment to positions of anyone found to have even a taint of heresy in their lineage—that is, a trace of Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish or Moorish blood or contamination by trade or commerce in either side of the family for many generations. The records of this commission have been found among the archives of the Order of Santiago. Velázquez was awarded the honor in 1659. His occupation as plebeian and tradesman was justified because, as painter to the king, he was evidently not involved in the practice of "selling" pictures.

In the 1966 book Les Mots et Les Choses (The Order of Things
The Order of Things

The Order of Things is a book written by Michel Foucault and was published in 1966.The full title of the book is: Les Mots et les choses: Une arch?ologie des sciences humaines....
')', philosopher Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault was a French philosophy, historian, intellectual, Critical theory and sociologist. He held a chair at the Coll?ge de France with the title "History of Systems of Thought," and also taught at the University of California, Berkeley....
 devotes the opening chapter to a detailed analysis of
Las Meninas. He describes the ways in which the painting problematizes issues of representation through its use of mirrors, screens, and the subsequent oscillations that occur between the image's interior, surface, and exterior. In his book, "The Dying Animal", Philip Roth uses Las Meninas as a metaphor for the distracted attraction of courtship.

Final years

Had it not been for this royal appointment, which enabled Velázquez to escape the censorship of the Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile....
, he would not have been able to release his
La Venus del espejo (c. 1644-1648, English: Venus at her Mirror) also known as The Rokeby Venus. It is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez.

Diegovelazquez Meninasdetail
There were essentially only two patrons of art in Spain—the church and the art-loving king and court. Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo

Bartolom? Esteban Murillo was a Spain List of painters, one of the most important figures in Baroque painting in Spain. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children....
 was the artist favored by the church, while Velázquez was patronized by the crown. One difference, however, deserves to be noted. Murillo, who toiled for a rich and powerful church, left little means to pay for his burial, while Velázquez lived and died in the enjoyment of good salaries and pensions.

One of his final works was
Las hilanderas (The Spinners)
Las Hilanderas (Velázquez)

Las Hilanderas is a late masterpiece by the Spanish painter Diego Vel?zquez, painted for Don Pedro de Arce, huntsman to King Philip IV....
, painted circa 1657, representing either the interior of the royal tapestry works or a depiction of Ovid's Fable of Arachne
Arachne

In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of crafts....
, depending on interpretation. It is full of light, air and movement, featuring vibrant colors and careful handling. Anton Raphael Mengs
Anton Raphael Mengs

Anton Raphael Mengs was an German painter, active in Rome, Madrid, and Saxony, who became one of the precursors to Neoclassicism painting....
 said this work seemed to have been painted not by the hand but by the pure force of will. It displays a concentration of all the art-knowledge Velázquez had gathered during his long artistic career of more than forty years. The scheme is simple—a confluence of varied and blended red, bluish-green, grey and black.

Velazquez' final portraits of the royal children are among his finest works. These include the Infanta Margarita in blue dress and his only surviving portrait of the sickly Prince Felipe Prospero. The latter is remarkable for its combination of the sweet features of the child prince and his dog with a subtle sense of gloom. As in all of the artist's late paintings, the handling of the colors is extraordinarily fluid and vibrant.

In 1660 a peace treaty between France and Spain was consummated by the marriage of Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa of Spain

Maria Theresa of Spain was the daughter of Philip IV of Spain and ?lisabeth of France . She was List of Queens and Empresses of France as wife of Louis XIV of France....
 with Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV ruled as List of French monarchs and of King of Navarre. He ascended the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his prime minister , the Italians Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661....
, and the ceremony took place on the Island of Pheasants, a small swampy island in the Bidassoa. Velázquez was charged with the decoration of the Spanish pavilion and with the entire scenic display. He attracted much attention from the nobility of his bearing and the splendor of his costume. On June 26 he returned to Madrid, and on July 31 he was stricken with fever. Feeling his end approaching, he signed his will, appointing as his sole executors his wife and his firm friend named Fuensalida, keeper of the royal records. He died on August 6, 1660. He was buried in the Fuensalida vault of the church of San Juan Bautista, and within eight days his wife Juana was buried beside him. Unfortunately, this church was destroyed by the French in 1811, so his place of interment is now unknown. There was much difficulty in adjusting the tangled accounts outstanding between Velázquez and the treasury, and it was not until 1666, after the death of King Philip, that they were finally settled.

In modernity


Until the nineteenth century, little was known outside of Spain of Velázquez's work. His paintings mostly escaped being stolen by the French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 marshals during the Peninsular War
Peninsular War

The Peninsular War or Spanish War of Independence was a contest between First French Empire and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Kingdom of Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars....
. In 1828 Sir David Wilkie
David Wilkie (artist)

File:David Wilkie.jpgSir David Wilkie was a Scotland Painting....
 wrote from Madrid that he felt himself in the presence of a new power in art as he looked at the works of Velázquez, and at the same time found a wonderful affinity between this artist and the British school of portrait painters, especially Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn

Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scotland portrait Painting....
. He was struck by the modern impression pervading Velázquez's work in both landscape and portraiture. Presently, his technique and individuality have earned Velázquez a prominent position in the annals of European art, and he is often considered a father of the Spanish school of art. Although acquainted with all the Italian schools and a friend of the foremost painters of his day, he was strong enough to withstand external influences and work out for himself the development of his own nature and his own principles of art.

Velázquez is often cited as a key influence on the art of Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet

?douard Manet , 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883, was a French Painting. One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from realism to Impressionism....
, important when considering that Manet is often cited as the bridge between realism and Impressionism
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
. Calling Velázquez the "painter of painters," Manet admired Velázquez's use of vivid brushwork in the midst of the baroque academic style of his contemporaries and built upon Velázquez's motifs in his own art.

Modern recreations of classics

The importance of Velázquez's art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
 even today is evident in considering the respect with which twentieth century painters regard his work. Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego Jos? Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mar?a de los Remedios Cipriano de la Sant?sima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish people Painting, drawing, and Sculpture....
 presented the most durable homages to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated
Las Meninas in 58 variations, in his characteristically cubist
Cubism

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature....
 form. Although Picasso was concerned that his reinterpretations of Velázquez's painting would be seen merely as copies rather than unique representations, the enormous works—including the largest he had produced since
Guernica
Guernica (painting)

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, showing the bombing of Guernica, Spain, by twenty-eight Germany bombers, on April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War....
in 1937—earned a position of relevance in the Spanish canon of art. Picasso retained the general form and positioning of the original in the framework of his avant-garde
Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
 cubist style.

Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal? i Dom?nech, 1st Marquis of P?bol was a Spain Catalonia surrealist painter born in Figueres.Dal? was a skilled Technical drawing, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealism work....
, as with Picasso in anticipation of the tercentennial of Velázquez's death, created in 1958 a work entitled
Velázquez Painting the Infanta Margarita With the Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory. The color scheme shows Dalí's serious tribute to Velázquez; the work also functioned, as in Picasso's case, as a vehicle for the presentation of newer theories in art and thought—nuclear mysticism, in Dalí's case.

The Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (painter)

Francis Bacon was an Ireland born British figurative painter. Bacon's artwork is known for its bold, austere, homoerotic and often violent or nightmarish imagery, which typically shows room-bound masculine figures isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds....
 found Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X to be one of the greatest portraits ever made. He created several expressionist
Expressionism

Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, theatre, film, Expressionist architecture and Expressionism ....
 variations of this piece in the 1950s; however, Bacon's paintings presented a more gruesome image of the pope, who had now been dead for centuries. One such famous variation, entitled
Figure with Meat
Figure with Meat

Figure with Meat is a 1954 painting by the Irish born artist Francis Bacon . The figure is based on the Pope Innocent X portrait by Diego Vel?zquez; however, in the Bacon painting the Pope is shown as a tragic figure and placed between two bisected halves of a cow....
(1954), shows the pope between two halves of a bisected cow.

Descendants

Velazquez' daughter was an ancestress of Marquises de Monteleon, including Enriquetta Casado who in 1746 married Heinrich VI, Count Reuss zu Köstritz and had large number of descendants among German aristocracy, among them Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands , Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld, born HSH Count Bernhard Leopold Friedrich Eberhard Julius Kurt Karl Gottfried Peter of Lippe-Biesterfeld , was Prince Consort to the late Queen regnant Juliana of the Netherlands, and father of 6 children; one of them is the current monarch, Beatrix of the Netherlands....
, father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Selected works

  • Apolo en la Fragua de Vulcano
    Apolo en la Fragua de Vulcano

    File:Diego Velasquez, The Forge of Vulcan.jpgApollo in the Forge of Vulcan is an oil painting completed by Diego Vel?zquez during his Italian Period....
    (1630) - Oil on canvas, 223 x 290 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
    Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (Velázquez)

    Kitchen Scene in the House of Martha and Mary dates from Diego Vel?zquez's Seville period, painted shortly after he completed his apprenticeship with Francisco Pacheco....
    (1618) - Oil on canvas, 63 x 103.5 cm, National Gallery
    National Gallery, London

    The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
    , London
    London

    London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
  • Cristo crucificado (1631) - Oil on canvas, 248 x 169 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • El Triunfo de Baco (Los borrachos) (1628 - 1629) - Oil on canvas, 165 x 225 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Equestrian portrait of Duke de Olivares
    Equestrian portrait of Duke de Olivares

    The Equestrian portrait of Count-Duke de Olivares is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Vel?zquez, finished in 1634. It is housed in the Museo del Prado, Madrid....
    (1634) - Oil on canvas, 313 x 239 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Esopo (1639 - 1640) - Oil on canvas, 179 × 94 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Imposición de la casulla a San Ildefonso
    San Ildefonso

    San Ildefonso, or La Granja, or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and municipality in the province of Segovia , Spain, situated 34 miles northwest of Madrid....
    (1623) - Oil on canvas, 165 × 115 cm, Museo de Bellas Artes, Sevilla
  • Old Woman Frying Eggs (c. 1618) - Oil on canvas, 105 × 119 cm, National Gallery, Edinburgh
    Edinburgh

    Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
  • La reina Isabel de Borbón a caballo (1629) - Oil on canvas, 301 x 314 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Las Hilanderas
    Las Hilanderas (Velázquez)

    Las Hilanderas is a late masterpiece by the Spanish painter Diego Vel?zquez, painted for Don Pedro de Arce, huntsman to King Philip IV....
    (The Fable of Arachne) (c. 1657) -Oil on canvas, 167 × 252 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Las Meninas
    Las Meninas

    Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Vel?zquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted....
    (1656) - Oil on canvas, 318 × 276 cm
  • Mars
    Mars (mythology)

    Mars was the Roman mythology warrior God , the son of Juno and Jupiter , husband of Bellona , and the lover of Venus . He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions....
     Resting (1640) - Oil on canvas, 179 × 95 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Menipo (1639 - 1640) - Oil on canvas, 179 × 94 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Mercury
    Mercury (mythology)

    In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
     and Argus
    ARGUS

    ARGUS, all capitalized, may refer to:* ARGUS , a particle physics experiment that ran at DESY* ARGUS distribution, a function used in particle physics named after the above experiment...
    (1659) - Oil6 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
     
    on canvas, 127 × 248 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Portrait of Count Duke of Olivares (1624) - Oil on canvas, 202 x 107 cm, São Paulo Museum of Art, Sao Paulo
    São Paulo

    S?o Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, and along with Tokyo, Seoul and Mexico City is among the four largest metropolitan regions of the world....
  • Portrait of Duke de Olivares
    Portrait of Duke de Olivares

    The Portrait of Count-Duke de Olivares is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Vel?zquez, finished in 1635. It is housed in the Hermitage Museum of St....
    (1635) - Oil on canvas, 67 × 54.5 cm, Hermitage Museum
    Hermitage Museum

    The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art , and one of the oldest art gallery and museums of human history and culture in the world....
    , St. Petersburg
  • Portrait of Innocent X
    Portrait of Innocent X

    The Portrait of Pope Innocent X is a famous oil on canvas portrait by the Spanish painter Diego Vel?zquez, which he finished during a trip to Italy around 1650....
    (c. 1650) - Oil on canvas, 141 x 119 cm, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
    Rome

    Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
  • Portrait of Juan de Pareja (1650) - Oil on canvas, 81.3 x 69.9 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Metropolitan Museum of Art

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile, New York City in New York City, USA....
    , New York City
    New York City

    The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
  • Portrait of Mother Jeronima de la Fuente
    Jerónima de la Asunción

    Mother Jeronima de la Asuncion or Jeronima de la Fuente was the wikt:founder of the first Roman Catholic Church monastery in Manila and the Far East....
    (1620) - Oil on canvas, 79 x 51 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • Rokeby Venus (La Venus del espejo, c. 1648-1651) - Oil on canvas, 122 × 177 cm, National Gallery
    National Gallery, London

    The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
    , London
    London

    London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
  • The Surrender of Breda
    The Surrender of Breda

    La Rendici?n de Breda , also known as El Cuadro de las Lanzas or Las Lanzas, is a painting by Diego Vel?zquez, painted during the years 1634?35, and inspired while Velazquez was visiting Italy with Ambrosio Spinola, the Italian general who conquered Breda on June 5, 1625....
    (1633 - 1635) - Oil on canvas, 307 × 367 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • The Adoration of the Magi (1619) - Oil on canvas, 203 × 125 cm, Museo del Prado
    Museo del Prado

    The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection....
    , Madrid
    Madrid

    Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
  • The Lady with a Fan, (c. 1638 - 1639) - Oil on wood, 69 x 51 cm, The Wallace Collection
    Wallace Collection

    The Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of Fine art and decorative arts from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries....
    , London
    London

    London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
  • The Lunch
    The Lunch (Velázquez)

    The Lunch is a very early painting by Spanish artist Diego Vel?zquez, finished c. 1617. It is housed in the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg....
    (c. 1617) - Oil on canvas, 108 x 102 cm, Hermitage Museum
    Hermitage Museum

    The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art , and one of the oldest art gallery and museums of human history and culture in the world....
    , St. Petersburg
  • The Waterseller of Seville
    The Waterseller of Seville (Velázquez)

    The Waterseller of Seville epitomizes all that Diego Vel?zquez set out to achieve in the genre paintings. It is widely said to be the greatest of all his Seville paintings....
    (c. 1620) - Oil on canvas, 105 × 80 cm, Apsley House
    Apsley House

    Apsley House, also known as Number One, London, was the London residence of the Duke of Wellington and stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, London, facing south towards the busy traffic circulation system....
    , London
    London

    London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....


Bibliography

  1. Brown, Johnathan (1986) Velázquez: Painter and Courtier Yale University Press, New Haven, ISBN 0300034660 ;
  2. Brown, Jonathan (1978) Images and Ideas in Seventeenth-Century Spanish Painting Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, ISBN 0691039410;
  3. Brown, Johnathan (2008) Collected writings on Velázquez, CEEH & Yale University Press, New Haven, ISBN 9780300144932.
  4. Davies, David and Enriqueta Harris (1996) Velázquez in Seville National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, ISBN 0300069499;
  5. "Diego Velázquez" (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
  6. Erenkrantz, Justin R. "". The Mask and the Mirror. Accessed on April 10, 2005.
  7. Goldberg, Edward L. "Velázquez in Italy: Painters, Spies and Low Spaniards". The Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, No. 3 (Sep., 1992), pp. 453-456.
  8. Prater, Andreas (2007)Venus ante el espejo, CEEH, ISBN 9788493606008.
  9. "Velázquez, Diego" (1995). Enciclopedia Hispánica. Barcelona: Encyclopædia Britannica Publishers. ISBN 1564090078.
  10. Wolf, Norbert (1998) Diego Velázquez, 1599-1660 : the face of Spain Taschen, Köln, ISBN 3822865117;




External links

  • at Artcyclopedia.com