Velázquez's 1643 self-portrait

This article pertains to the artist. For the conquistador who invaded Cuba in 1511, see Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar.

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June, 1599 – August 6, 1660), commonly referred to as Diego Velázquez, was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. His two visits to Italy while part of the Spanish court are well-documented. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he created scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece, Las Meninas (1656). A self portrait of artist Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), painted in around 1643. ... A self portrait of artist Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), painted in around 1643. ... Self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh A portrait is a painting, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person. ... Conquistador (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas and Asia Pacific under Spanish rule between the 15th and 17th centuries. ... Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar ( 1465 - 1524), Spanish Conquistador, conqueror and governor of Cuba for Spain. ... June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... Events Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is replaced by his brother Charles IX of Sweden. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ... Great Museums in the World (Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, MoMA, Picasso …) CGFA: A Virtual Art Museum Very large website with good reproduction quality scans of thousands of paintings Goetia Fine Art - Surrealism Art History With biographies and Works of the Surrealist Masters Art-Atlas. ... Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (April 8, 1605 - September 17, 1665) was the king of Spain, from 1621 until his death, and king of Portugal until 1640. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint The Baroque was a style in art that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce... Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is probably the most famous of the works by the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. ...

Starting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork proved a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary. ... Impressionism was a 19th century art movement, that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists who began publicly exhibiting their art in the 1860s. ... Édouard Manet (portrait by Nadar) Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832 – April 30, 1883) was a French painter. ... A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ... Salvador Dalí as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten Salvador Domenec Felip Jacint Dalí Domenech (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was an important Catalan-Spanish painter, best known for his surrealist works. ...

Early life

Velázquez, born in Seville, Andalusia early in June 1599 and baptized on June 6, was the son of Juan Rodríguez de Silva, a lawyer of noble Portuguese descent, and Jerónima Velázquez, a member of Seville's hidalgo class, an order of minor aristocracy (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). He was educated by his parents to fear God and, intended for a learned profession, received good training in languages and philosophy. But he showed an early gift for art; consequently, he began to study under Francisco de Herrera, 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. The Giralda Tower Seville (Spanish: Sevilla) is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain, crossed by the river Guadalquivir. ... Motto: Dominator Hercules Fundator Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad (Andalusia for herself, for Spain, and for humanity) Capital Seville Area  – Total  – % of Spain Ranked 2nd  87 268 km²  17,2% Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density Ranked 1st  7 478 432  17,9%  85,70/km² Demonym... June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ... Hidalgo can mean: A traditional title of a person of nobility or gentry in the Spanish language, derived from Hijo de algo Son of some wealth. Miguel Hidalgo, father of the independence of Mexico. ... The Ancient Greek term Aristocracy meant a system of government with rule by the best. This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. ... The term Philosophy derives from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom. ...

After leaving Herrera's studio when he was 11 years old, Velázquez began to serve as an apprentice under the pedantic Francisco Pacheco, a founded artist and teacher in Seville. Though considered a generally dull, commonplace painter, at times Pacheco would express a simple, direct realism that is in contradiction to the style of Raphael 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. Francisco Pacheco ( 1564- 1654) was a Spanish painter, best known as the teacher of Diego Velázquez and Alonso Cano, and for his textbook on painting that is an important source for the study of 17th-century practice in Spain. ... This page is about the artist. ...

To Madrid (early period)

Vieja friendo huevos (1618, English: An Old Woman Frying Eggs)

The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ...

The birth of realism in Seville

Velázquez fell in love with Pacheco's daughter Juana, whom he married in 1618 at Pacheco's hearty approval. The young painter set himself to begin recreating in his art the commonest things—earthenware jars of the country people, birds, fish, fruit and flowers of the marketplace. A notable piece from this early period of depicting common Spanish life is Vieja friendo huevos (1618, English: An Old Woman Frying Eggs), which also displayed his adherence to artistic tenets of the sixteenth century Spanish artist El Greco in its heavy contrast of light and dark colors. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Baptism of Christ, painted 1596–1600 El Greco (mediaeval Castilian for the Greek) is the name by which Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος Domênikos Theotokópoulos (1541 – April 7, 1614), a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish school, is best known. ...

By the early 1620s his position and reputation were assured in Seville; Velázquez's wife in these years bore him two daughters—his only known family. The younger died in infancy, while the elder, Francisca, in due time married Bautista del Mazo, a painter.

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

Madrid and Philip IV

Velázquez was now eager to see more of the world and went to Madrid in 1622, fortified with letters of introduction to the Count-Duke Juan Fonseca, who held a good position at court. He spent several months there, accompanied only by his servant. The impression which Velázquez made in the capital must have been very strong, because in the following year he was summoned to return by Count-Duke of Olivares, the all-powerful minister of Philip IV, and was offered 50 ducats (175g of gold—worth about €2000 in 2005) to defray his expenses. On this occasion he was accompanied by his father-in-law. 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. Coat of arms Plaza de España (Spain square) Madrid, the capital of Spain, is located in the center of the country at 40°25′ N 3°45′ W. Population of the city of Madrid proper was 3,093,000 (Madrilenes, madrileños) as of 2003 estimates. ... Events January 1 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of March 25. ... Definition A count is a nobleman in most European countries, equivalent in rank to a British earl, whose wife is still a countess. Originally the title comes denoted the rank of a high courtier or provincial (military or administrative) official in the late Roman Empire: before Anthemius was made emperor... The term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Spain and France (in Italy, principe... Gaspar de Guzman, conde de Olivares y duque de San Lucar (January 6, 1587 - July 22, 1645), was a Spanish royal favourite and minister. ... Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (April 8, 1605 - September 17, 1665) was the king of Spain, from 1621 until his death, and king of Portugal until 1640. ... The ducat was a gold coin that was used throughout Europe. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11 (IB), 6, d Density, Hardness 19300 kg/m3, 2. ... The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. ...

While a weak king, Philip was an art lover, and he was proud to be considered a poet and a painter. Historians note that one of the best features of his character was that he remained the faithful and attached friend of Velázquez for 36 years; Philip quickly recognized Velázquez's merit, declaring that no other painter should ever paint his portrait. Through an equestrian 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 and vaunted by poets. It has unfortunately disappeared, having probably perished in one of the numerous fires which occurred in the royal palaces. The Museo del Prado, however, has two of Velázquez's portraits of the king (nos. 1070 and 1071) in which the harshness 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, who exercised a considerable influence on the Spanish school. In the same year the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I) arrived at the court of Spain. Records indicate that he sat for Velázquez, but the picture has disappeared. Poets are authors of poems, or of other forms of poetry such as dramatic verse. ... San Felipe (the Spanish-language name of Saint Philip) is a moderately common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken: Mexico San Felipe, Baja California San Felipe, Guanajuato San Felipe, Yucatán United States San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico San Felipe, Texas Venezuela San Felipe... The Museo del Prado is a world class museum and art gallery located in Madrid, Spain. ... Categories: Stub | Dutch painters ... Philip II of Spain (Spanish: Felipe II) - (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598), the first King of Spain understood as the whole peninsula of Hispania (r. ... Charles I (19 November 1600–30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625, until his death. ...

Los borrachos (1629, English: The Feast of Bacchus)

A 1628 portrait of Philip IV

In 1628 Peter Paul Rubens visited Madrid on a diplomatic mission for nine months, and Velázquez was appointed by the king to be his guide among the artwork of Spain. Rubens was then at the height of his fame and had undertaken as a commission from Olivares (the large pictures which now adorn the great hall in Grosvenor House, London). These months might have been a new turning point in the career of a lesser known man than Velázquez at that time, for Rubens added to his brilliant style as a painter the manner of a courtier. Rubens had a high opinion of the talent of Velázquez, but he effected no change in the style of the strong Spaniard. He impressed him, however, with the desire to see Italy and the works of the great Italian painters. Download high resolution version (1089x787, 146 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (1089x787, 146 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (652x1313, 92 KB)Philip IV by Velazquez. ... Download high resolution version (652x1313, 92 KB)Philip IV by Velazquez. ... Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (April 8, 1605 - September 17, 1665) was the king of Spain, from 1621 until his death, and king of Portugal until 1640. ... Pieter Pauwel (Peter Paul) Rubens (June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640) is considered one of the greatest painters in European art history (together with Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn), and the most important Flemish (Netherlands, nowadays Belgium) painter of the sixteenth century. ... The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was an aircraft designed for one very specific purpose - to win the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race for Britain. ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

In 1627 the king had given for competition among the painters of Spain the subject of the expulsion of the Moors. Velázquez won the contest; but his picture was destroyed in a fire at the palace in 1734. Recorded descriptions of it reveal that it depicted Philip III pointing with his baton to a crowd of men and women driven off under charge of soldiers, while Spain, a majestic female, sits looking calmly on. This triumph of Velázquez was rewarded by his being appointed gentleman usher. Later he also received a daily allowance of 12 reals, the same amount allotted to the court barbers, and 90 ducats a year for dress. Five years after he painted it, as an extra payment he received 100 ducats for the picture of Bacchus (The Feast of Bacchus), painted in 1629. The spirit and aim of this work are better understood from its Spanish name, Los borrachos or Los bebedores (the tipplers), who are paying mock homage to a half-naked ivy-crowned young man seated on a wine barrel. It is like a story by Cervantes, brimful of jovial humor. One can easily see in this picture of national manners how Velázquez had reaped the benefit of his close study of peasant life. 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. Moors is used in this article to describe the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula including the present day Spain and Portugal) and the Maghreb, whose culture is often called Moorish. Origins of the Name Juba II king of Mauretania The name derives from the ancient Berber... Philip III (April 14, 1578 - March 31, 1621) was the king of Spain and Portugal (as Philip II), from 1598 until his death. ... The real (plural reais) is the present monetary unit (currency) of Brazil. ... Bacchus is the name of: the Roman god Bacchus, known to the Greeks as Dionysus the Christian martyr Saint Bacchus, companion to Saint Sergius the asteroid 2063 Bacchus the Bacchus grape variety, grown predominantly in Germany the painting Bacchus by Leonardo da Vinci the comic book Bacchus by Eddie Campbell... A glass of red wine This article is about the beverage. ... Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616), was a Spanish author, best known for his novel Don Quixote de la Mancha. ...

Velázquez's Italian period

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.

First visit to Italy

In 1629 Philip gave Velázquez permission to carry out his desire of visiting Italy, without loss of salary, making him a present of 400 ducats to which Olivares added 200. He sailed from Barcelona in August in the company of the Marqués de Spinola, the conqueror of Breda, then on his way to take command of the Spanish troops at Milan. It was during this voyage that Velázquez must have heard the details of the surrender of Breda from the lips of the victor, and he must have sketched his fine head, known to us also by the portrait by Van Dyck. Barcelona within Barcelonès Population (2003) 1,582,738 Area 1004 Km2 Population density (2001) 15,764/Km2 Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous region in northeastern Spain (41°23′ N 2°11′ E). ... Ambrosio Spinola Doria, marqués de los Balbases (1569 - September 25, 1630), Spanish general, was born in Genoa. ... Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. ... Location within Italy Piazza della Scala Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese dialect: Milán) is the main city in northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed of Italian regions. ... Self Portrait With a Sunflower Sir Anthony (Antoon) van Dyck (*March 22, 1599 - December 9, 1641) was a Flemish painter — mainly of portraits — who became the leading court painter in England. ...

La fragua de Vulcano (1630, English: The Forge of Vulcan)

In Venice Velázquez made copies of Tintoretto's Crucifixion and Last Supper which he sent to the king, and in Rome he copied Michelangelo and Raphael, lodging in the Villa Medici till fever compelled him to retire into the city. Here he painted the La fragua de Vulcano (1630, The Forge of Vulcan; no. 1171 of the Museo del Prado), in which Apollo narrates to the astonished Vulcan, a village blacksmith, the news of the infidelity of Venus, while four others listen to the scandal. The mythological treatment is similar to that of the The Feast of Bacchus: it is intimately realistic and innately Spanish, giving a picture of the interior of a smithy of Andalusia, with Apollo inserted to make the story tell. The conception is commonplace, yet the impression it produces is from the vividness of the representation and the power of expression. The modeling of the half-naked figures is extremely detailed. Altogether, this picture is much superior to his other work painted at the same time, La túnica de José (1630, English: Joseph's Bloody Coat), which now hangs in the Escorial. Both of these works are evidently painted from the same models. Curiously absent from both of these works, however, is the influence of the Italians. Download high resolution version (1041x800, 138 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (1041x800, 138 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Location within Italy Venice (Italian Venezia), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, population 271,663 (census estimate 2004-01-01). ... Detail of a self-portrait Tintoretto (real name Jacopo Robusti; 1518 - May 31, 1594) was an Italian painter from Venice. ... Location within Italy The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital city of Italy and of its Latium region. ... This page is about the artist. ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... Vulcan, in Roman mythology, is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and husband of Maia and Venus. ... Blacksmith Blacksmith at work Blacksmith at work Blacksmiths fire A blacksmith is an artisan specializing in the hand-wrought manufacture of metal objects, such as wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, weapons, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils and tools. ... Venus is the Roman goddess of love, equivalent to Greek Aphrodite and Etruscan Turan. ... The facade of the chapel, in the baroque style of Jesuit churches, is integrated with the palatial facade El Escorial is an immense palace, monastery, museum, and library complex located at San Lorenzo de El Escorial (also San Lorenzo del Escorial), a town 45 kilometres northwest of Madrid in the...

In Rome Velázquez also painted two beautiful landscapes of the gardens of the Villa Medici. Landscape was uncommon in Spanish art, but Velázquez showed how capable he was in this branch as well. The silvery views of Aranjuez, which at one time passed under his name, are now considered to be the work of his pupil and son-in-law Mazo. After a visit to Naples in 1631, where he worked with his countryman José Ribera and painted a charming portrait of the Infanta Maria, sister of Philip, Velázquez returned early in the year to Madrid. Aranjuez is a town in the southern part of Autonomous Community of Madrid in central Spain and is the southernmost, and 48 km south of the city of Madrid. ... Location within Italy Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Napule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region. ...

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 is in attendance 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. Baltasar Carlos was the Prince of the Asturias, and the son of King Philip IV of Spain and Isabella of Bourbon. ... A riding academy is a school for instruction in horse riding, or for hiring of horses for pleasure riding. ...

La rendición de Breda (1634, English: The Surrender of Breda) was inspired by Velázquez's first visit to Italy, in which he accompanied Ambrosio Spínola, who conquered the Dutch city of Breda a few years prior. The masterwork depicts a transfer of the key to the city from the Dutch to the Spanish army. This durable immortalization of Spain also shows the lasting influence of El Greco on Velázquez, as the two sides exist in a distinct separation, a characteristic tenet of the art of El Greco.

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 Alcantara 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 which 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. Download high resolution version (1023x851, 179 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (1023x851, 179 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Baptism of Christ, painted 1596–1600 El Greco (mediaeval Castilian for the Greek) is the name by which Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος Domênikos Theotokópoulos (1541 – April 7, 1614), a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish school, is best known. ... Alcântara is a Brazilian city in the state of Maranhão. ...

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 sculptor Tacca and which now stands in the Plaza del 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. The golilla was thus the height of fashion and appears in most of the male portraits of the period. Location within Italy Giglio di Firenze - symbol of the city Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy at 43°46′ N 11°15′ E. The city on the Arno River has a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess...

Velázquez was in constant and close attendance on Philip, accompanying him in his journeys to Aragon 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, which inspired Velázquez to excel himself, and both remarkable for their silvery tone and their feeling of open air. Capital Zaragoza Area  – Total  – % of Spain Ranked 4th  47 719 km²  9,4% Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density Ranked 11th  1 217 514  2,9%  25,51/km² Demonym  – English  – Spanish  Aragonese  aragonés Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 ISO 3166-2 AR Parliamentary representation  – Congress seats  – Senate seats... La Seu Vella, the Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral of Lleida Lleida (Catalan: Lleida, Spanish: Lérida) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. ... Titian. ...

Juan de Pareja (1650)

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Velázquez's portraiture

Besides the forty portraits of Philip by Velázquez, he painted portraits of other members of the royal family: Philip's first wife, Isabella 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. Cavaliers, soldiers, churchmen and poets of the court, as, for example, the Quevedo at Apsley House, sat to the painter and, even if forgotten by history, will live on his canvas. Isabelle de Bourbon ( 1436 - 1465) was a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Agnes de Bourgogne. ... Buckingham Palace and the Victoria memorial. This principal facade of 1850 by Edward Blore was redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb. ... Apsley House was the London residence of the First Duke of Wellington and is located at Hyde Park Corner; the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing south. ...

The Spaniards have always been cautious to commit to canvas the portraits of their beautiful women. Queens and infants may be painted and exhibited, but ladies rarely. One wonders who the beautiful 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. But, if few ladies of the court of Philip have been depicted, Velázquez painted several of his buffoons and dwarfs. Even these deformed or half-witted creatures attract sympathy in the portraits by Velázquez, who treats them gently and kindly, 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 absolutely alone. The picture was lengthened to suit its place in an oratory, but this addition has since been removed.

Velázquez's son-in-law Mazo 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.

1650 portrait of Pope Innocent X

Philip now entrusted Velázquez with carrying out a design on which he had long set his heart: the founding of an academy 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. Download high resolution version (851x1011, 124 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (851x1011, 124 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Innocent X né Giovanni Battista Pamphili (May 6, 1574 – January 5, 1655) was Pope from 1644 to 1655. ... An academy is an institution for the study of higher learning. ...

Second Visit to Italy

Accompanied by his faithful slave Pareja, whom he taught to be a good painter, Velázquez sailed from Malaga in 1649, landing at Genoa, and proceeded from Milan to Venice, buying paintings of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese as he went. At Modena 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 which now adorn the Dresden gallery, for these paintings came from the Modena sale of 1746. Málaga, a port town in the province of Málaga in Andalusia, Southern Spain Malaga, a fortified wine originating in Málaga. ... Location within Italy Flag of Genoa Christopher Columbus monument in Piazza Aquaverde Genoa (Italian Genova (jeno-vah), Genoese Zena (zaynah), French Gênes) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of Liguria. ... Titian. ... Detail of a self-portrait Tintoretto (real name Jacopo Robusti; 1518 - May 31, 1594) was an Italian painter from Venice. ... Veronese means either of the following things: the painter Paolo Veronese someone or something from Verona, Italy. ... Location within Italy Modena is a city and a province on the south side of the Po valley, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. ... Brühls Terrace and the Frauenkirche Dresden [ˈdreːsdn̩] (Sorbian/Lusatian Drježdźany), the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. ...

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 in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome, where Velázquez now proceeded. There he was received with marked favor by the Pope, who presented him with a medal and golden chain. Velázquez took a copy of the portrait—which Sir Joshua Reynolds 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 had in this work 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 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. Centuries later, the painter Francis Bacon would create an expressionist variation on Velázquez's portrait—one which Bacon was obsessed with according to his own admission—entitled Figure with Meat (1954), showing the Pope between two halves of a bisected cow. Innocent X né Giovanni Battista Pamphili (May 6, 1574 – January 5, 1655) was Pope from 1644 to 1655. ... 1650 portrait of Pope Innocent X, a member of the Pamphilj family, whose portrait by Velázquez is in the Doria Pamphilj collection The Doria Pamphilj Gallery, in Rome is a large privately owned art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (July 16, 1723–February 23, 1792) was the most important and influential of eighteenth-century English painters, specialising in portraits and promoting the Grand Style in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. ... Francis Bacon (October 28, 1909 - April 28, 1992) was an Anglo-Irish expressionist artist and painter. ... On White II by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923. ... Figure with Meat (1954) is a painting by Francis Bacon. ...

In 1650 in Rome Velázquez also painted a portrait of his servant, Juan de Pareja, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 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. There is also the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), located in Manhattan. ... City nickname: The Big Apple Location in the state of New York Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area  - Land  - Water 1,214. ...

Return to Spain (later period)

King Philip wished that Velázquez return to Spain; accordingly, after a visit to Naples, where he saw his old friend José Ribera, he returned to Spain via Barcelona 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 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 major, 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. Location within Italy Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Napule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region. ... Barcelona within Barcelonès Population (2003) 1,582,738 Area 1004 Km2 Population density (2001) 15,764/Km2 Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous region in northeastern Spain (41°23′ N 2°11′ E). ... Isabelle de Bourbon ( 1436 - 1465) was a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Agnes de Bourgogne. ... Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ... Marianna of Austria married her uncle, Philip IV of Spain, or Philip the fat, and gave him an heir: Charles II of Spain, or Charles the bewitched. ...

Las Meninas

Las Meninas, painted in 1656

One of the infantas, Margarita, the eldest daughter of the new Queen, is the subject of Las Meninas (1656, English: The Maids of Honor), Velázquez's magnum opus. Created four years before his death, it is a staple of the European baroque period of art. An apotheosis of the work has been effected since its creation; Luca Giordano, a contemporary Italian painter, referred to it as the "theology of painting," and the seventeenth century Englishman Thomas Lawrence cited it as the "philosophy of art," so decidedly capable of producing its desired effect. That effect has been variously interpreted; Brown points out the noteworthy interpretation that, in inserting within the work a diminutive, faded portrait of the king and queen hanging on the back wall, Velázquez has ingeniously prognosticated the fall of the Spanish empire that was to gain momentum following his death. Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is probably the most famous of the works by the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. ... Download high resolution version (865x985, 127 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (865x985, 127 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is probably the most famous of the works by the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. ... In the Spanish and former Portuguese monarchies, Infante (masc. ... Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress is a famous Baroque painting by Diego Velázquez, executed in 1659. ... Magnum opus, from the Latin meaning great work, refers to the best or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint The Baroque was a style in art that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce... Luca Giordano (1632 - January 12, 1705), Italian painter, was born in Naples, son of a very indifferent painter, Antonio, who imparted to him the first rudiments of drawing. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Sir Thomas Lawrence (April 13, 1769 - January 7, 1830), was an English painter was born at Bristol. ... Habsburg Spain was a superpower and the center of the first global empire in the 16th century. ...

It is said the king painted the honorary Cruz Roja (Red Cross) of the Orden de Santiago (Order of Santiago) on the breast of the painter as it appears today on the canvas. Velázquez did not, however, 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. This 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 Jewish 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. 17th century interpretation of saint James as the Moor-killer from the Peruvian school of Cuzco. ... A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... Limpieza de sangre is also a novel in the Captain Alatriste series by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ...

Final years

Had it not been for this royal appointment, which enabled Velázquez to escape the censorship of the Inquisition, he would not have been able to release his La Venus del espejo (1651, English: Venus at her Toilet) also known as The Rokeby Venus. It is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez. Pedro Berruguete. ... Venus at her Toilet, also known as The Rokeby Venus, is a painting by Diego Velázquez in the National Gallery, London. ... The word nude may refer to: The state of nudity. ...

Detail of Las Meninas (Velázquez's self-portrait)

There were essentially only two patrons of art in Spain—the church and the art-loving king and court. Bartolome Esteban Murillo 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 scarcely sufficient means to pay for his burial, while Velázquez lived and died in the enjoyment of good salaries and pensions. Download high resolution version (563x748, 25 KB) Self-portrait of Diego Velázquez as a detail in Las Meninas. ... Download high resolution version (563x748, 25 KB) Self-portrait of Diego Velázquez as a detail in Las Meninas. ... Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is probably the most famous of the works by the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. ... Murillo Bartolom Est ban Murillo (January 1, 1618 - April 3, 1682) was a Spanish painter from Seville. ...

One of his final works was Las hilanderas (The Spinners), painted circa 1657, representing the interior of the royal tapestry works. It is full of light, air and movement, featuring vibrant colors and careful handling. Anton Raphael Mengs 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. Anton Raphael Mengs (March 12, 1728 - June 29, 1779) was a German painter. ...

In 1660 a peace treaty between France and Spain was to be consummated by the marriage of Maria Theresa with Louis XIV, and the ceremony was to take place in the Island of Pheasants, a small swampy island in the Bidassoa. Velázquez was charged with the decoration of the Spanish pavilion and with the whole scenic display. Velázquez attracted much attention from the nobility of his bearing and the splendor of his costume. On June 26 he returned to Madrid, and on the 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, 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. Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ... This page is about Maria Theresa of Austria (often only known as Empress Maria Theresa), ruler of the Habsburg Empire from 1740-1780. ... Louis XIV King of France and Navarre By Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ... June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining, as the final day of July. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... San Juan, the Spanish for Saint John, is a common toponym in parts of the world where Spanish is or was spoken: Argentina San Juan Province San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province Cuba San Juan Hill Mexico San Juan, Campeche San Juan, Chihuahua San Juan, Coahuila San Juan...

Velázquez in modernity

Picasso's 1957 recreation of Las Meninas

Until the nineteenth century, little was known outside of Spain of Velázquez's work. His paintings mostly escaped being stolen by the French marshals during the Peninsular War. In 1828 Sir David Wilkie 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 English school of portrait painters, especially Henry Raeburn. He was struck by the modern impression pervading Velázquez's work in both landscape and portraiture. Download high resolution version (1067x789, 189 KB) This work is copyrighted. ... Download high resolution version (1067x789, 189 KB) This work is copyrighted. ... The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was a major conflict during the Napoleonic Wars, fought in the Iberian Peninsula with Spanish, Portuguese, and the British forces fighting against the French. ... Sir David Wilkie (November 18, 1785 - June 1, 1841) was a Scottish painter. ... Sir Henry Raeburn (March 4, 1756 - July 8, 1823) was a Scottish portrait-painter. ...

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, important when considering that Manet is often cited as the bridge between realism and impressionism. 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. Édouard Manet (portrait by Nadar) Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832 – April 30, 1883) was a French painter. ... Impressionism was a 19th century art movement, that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists who began publicly exhibiting their art in the 1860s. ...

Modern recreations of Velázquez's classics

One of Pecharromán's 1999 recreations of La rendición de Breda

The importance of Velázquez's art even today is evident in considering the respect with which twentieth century painters regard his work. Pablo Picasso presented the most durable homage to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas in his characteristically cubist form. While Picasso was worried that if he copied Velázquez's painting, it would be seen only as a copy and not as any sort of unique representation, he proceeded to do so, and the enormous work—the largest he had produced since Guernica 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 cubist style. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ... Woman with a guitar by Georges Braque, 1913 Cubist house in Prague Cubism was an avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture in the early 20th century. ... Guernica is one of the most famous paintings by Pablo Picasso, depicting the consequences of the bombing of Guernica. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ...

Salvador Dalí, as with Picasso in anticipation of the tercentennial of Velázquez's death, created in 1958 a work entitled Velázquez Painting the Infanta Margarita. The color scheme shows Dalí's serious tribute to Velázquez; the work also functioned, as in Picasso case, as a vehicle for the presentention of newer theories in art and thought—nuclear mysticism, in Dalí's case. Salvador Dalí as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten Salvador Domenec Felip Jacint Dalí Domenech (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was an important Catalan-Spanish painter, best known for his surrealist works. ...

Also worth mentioning is the less famous Ricardo Pecharromán, who celebrated the quadricentennial of Velázquez's birth in 1999 by recreating a number of Velázquez's works in a postmodern style. Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, design, architecture, art, literature, religion, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

References

• Brown, Dale (1969). The World of Velázquez: 1599–1660. New York: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0809402521.

• "Diego Velázquez" (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.

• "Enriqueta Harris resalta la 'pasión británica' por Velázquez en un simposio en Sevilla (http://www.bib.ub.es/velazquez/1varti1.pdf)." El Pais Digital. Accessed on April 9, 2005.

• Erenkrantz, Justin R. "The Variations on Past Masters (http://www.erenkrantz.com/Words/TheMaskAndTheMirror.shtml)". The Mask and the Mirror. Accessed on April 10, 2005.

• "Manet and His Influence (http://www.nga.gov/collection/pdf/gg90en.pdf)." National Gallery of Art. Accessed on April 9, 2005.

• "Pecharromán y Velázquez: Bajo el Cielo de Madrid (http://www.museopecharroman.arrakis.es/museo_pecharroman_7b.htm)." Museo Pecharromán. Accessed on April 10, 2005.

• "Velázquez, Diego" (1995). Enciclopedia Hispánica. Barcelona: Encyclopædia Britannica Publishers. ISBN 1564090078.

• ""What’s new? Velázquez." Salvador Dalí and Velázquez (http://www.salvador-dali.org/eng/velazque.pdf)." Fundación Gala-Salvador Dalí. Accessed on April 10, 2005.

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free images, sound and other multimedia files. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

External links

• Diego Velázquez (http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=132#) at the Art Renewal Center.

• Velázquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y (http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/v/velazque/) at Web Gallery of Art.