Diego Velázquez
On the 6th of June 1599, a boy named Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was baptized at the church of St. Peter in Seville. His father Juan worked as a notary while his mother Jerónima came from a family that claimed Portuguese nobility. The young artist grew up in modest circumstances within this southern Spanish city. He showed an early gift for art and began training under Francisco Pacheco on the 10th of December 1610. A formal contract signed later that year on the 17th of September 1611 extended their partnership to six years. Pacheco taught him the classics and trained him in proportion and perspective. This education exposed Velázquez to literary and artistic circles in Seville. By the 23rd of April 1618 he married Juana Pacheco the daughter of his teacher. They had two daughters together though only one survived infancy.
Velázquez traveled to Madrid in April 1622 carrying letters of introduction to Don Juan de Fonseca. He initially painted the poet Luis de Góngora crowned with a laurel wreath before returning to Seville. In August 1623 Philip IV sat for the painter who would become his court portraitist. The king approved the work and ordered all other portraits withdrawn from circulation. Velázquez received a salary of 20 ducats per month along with lodgings and payment for pictures. He moved his family to Madrid in 1624 receiving 300 ducats to cover moving expenses. His early royal portraits showed a severity that disappeared over time as tones became more delicate. He depicted Philip wearing the golilla a stiff linen collar projecting at right angles from the neck. This fashion replaced elaborate ruffed collars during a period of economic crisis. The artist also painted equestrian portraits of the royal family including Philip on Horseback completed between 1634 and 1635.
In 1629 Velázquez received permission to spend a year and a half traveling through Italy. He visited Venice Ferrara Cento Loreto Bologna and Rome. During this first trip he painted Joseph's Bloody Coat brought to Jacob and Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan. These works revealed his ambition to rival Italian history painters in the grand manner. He adopted light gray grounds instead of dark reddish ones used in earlier works. This change resulted in greater luminosity and a generally cool silvery range of color. He returned to Spain in January 1631 after visiting Naples where he met Ribera. A second journey began in 1649 when he sailed from Málaga accompanied by his assistant Juan de Pareja. They bought paintings of Titian Tintoretto and Veronese while traveling through Milan and Genoa. In Rome he painted Pope Innocent X which reached the Doria Pamphilj Gallery. The portrait showed such ruthlessness in Innocent's expression that some feared it would be seen unfavorably. The Pope was pleased with the work and hung it in his official visitor's waiting room.
Las Meninas completed in 1656 stands as Velázquez's magnum opus created four years before his death. The painting features Margaret Theresa the eldest daughter of Queen Mariana of Austria. King Philip IV and Queen Mariana appear reflected in a mirror on the back wall. Luca Giordano called it the theology of painting while Sir Thomas Lawrence described it as the true philosophy of art. The Spinners painted circa 1657 depicts Ovid's Fable of Arachne with vibrant colors and careful handling. Anton Raphael Mengs said this work seemed to have been painted not by hand but by pure force of will. His final portraits of royal children include Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress from 1659. These works feature shimmering spots of color producing an almost impressionistic effect. A small dog with wide eyes looks at the viewer questioningly in the portrait of Prince Felipe Prospero who died at age four.
Velázquez produced between 110 and 120 known canvases during his lifetime. He was the most influential figure in Spanish portraiture though he had few immediate followers. Goya made etchings after paintings by Velázquez in 1778 as part of a project by Count Floridablanca. Édouard Manet considered him the painter of painters and admired the immediacy of his brushwork. James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent were strongly influenced by his work in the late nineteenth century. Pablo Picasso recreated Las Meninas in 44 variations in 1957. Salvador Dalí created a tribute titled Velázquez Painting the Infanta Margarita With the Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory in 1958. Francis Bacon found the Portrait of Innocent X to be one of the greatest portraits ever painted. He created several expressionist variations including Figure with Meat which shows the pope between two halves of a bisected cow. Recent rediscoveries include a portrait found in the UK sold for £3,000,000 on the 7th of December 2011.
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Common questions
When was Diego Velázquez born and where did he grow up?
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was baptized on the 6th of June 1599 in Seville. He grew up in modest circumstances within this southern Spanish city.
Who taught Diego Velázquez art and when did their partnership begin?
Francisco Pacheco trained Diego Velázquez starting on the 10th of December 1610. A formal contract signed on the 17th of September 1611 extended their partnership to six years.
How much salary did Philip IV give Diego Velázquez for his court work?
Philip IV gave Diego Velázquez a salary of 20 ducats per month along with lodgings and payment for pictures. The king also ordered all other portraits withdrawn from circulation after approving Velázquez's work.
What happened during Diego Velázquez first trip to Italy between 1629 and 1631?
Diego Velázquez traveled through Venice Ferrara Cento Loreto Bologna and Rome between 1629 and January 1631. During this period he adopted light gray grounds instead of dark reddish ones used in earlier works.
When was Las Meninas completed and what does it depict?
Las Meninas was completed in 1656 four years before Diego Velázquez died. The painting features Margaret Theresa the eldest daughter of Queen Mariana of Austria and shows King Philip IV and Queen Mariana reflected in a mirror on the back wall.