Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
The Spinners, or the Fable of Arachne, c. 1655 - 1660
Oil on canvas
Height: 220 cm.; Width: 289 cm.
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Traditionally, it was believed that the painting depicted women workers in the tapestry workshop of Santa Isabel. In 1948, however, Diego Angula observed that the iconography suggested Ovid's Fable of Arachne, the story of the mortal Arachne who dared to challenge the goddess Athena to a weaving competition and, on winning the contest, was turned into a spider by the jealous goddess. This is now generally accepted as the correct interpretation of the painting. More on this painting
The talented mortal Arachne, daughter of Idmon, challenged Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts, to a weaving contest. When Athena could find no flaws in the tapestry Arachne had woven for the contest, the goddess became enraged and beat the girl with her shuttle. After Arachne hanged herself out of shame, she was transformed into a spider. The myth both provides an aetiology of spiders' web-spinning abilities and is a cautionary tale warning mortals not to place themselves on an equal level with the gods. More on Arachne
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Las Meninas, c. July 1656
Oil on canvas
Height: 318 cm (10.4 ft); Width: 276 cm (108.6 in)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Depicted people: Philip IV of Spain, Margaret Theresa of Spain, Diego Velázquez, Mariana of Austria, Maria Agustina Sarmiento, Mari Bárbola, Nicolasito Pertusato, Marcela de Ulloa, José Nieto Velázquez
The 5-year-old Infanta Margaret Theresa is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honour, chaperone, bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. Just behind them, Velázquez portrays himself working at a large canvas. Velázquez looks outwards, beyond the pictorial space to where a viewer of the painting would stand. In the background there is a mirror that reflects the upper bodies of the king and queen. They appear to be placed outside the picture space in a position similar to that of the viewer, although some scholars have speculated that their image is a reflection from the painting Velázquez is shown working on. More on this painting
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress, c. 1659
Oil on canvas
Height: 1,270 mm (50 in); Width: 1,070 mm (42.12 in)
Kunsthistorisches Museum
This is one of the several court portraits made by Velázquez on different occasions of Infanta Margaret Theresa who, at fifteen, married her uncle, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. She's the little infanta who appears in Las Meninas (1656). These paintings show her in different stages of her childhood; they were sent to Vienna to inform Leopold of what his young fiancée looked like. More on this painting
At the age of 11, he began a six-year apprenticeship with local painter Francisco Pacheco. Velázquez's early works were of the traditional religious themes favored by his master, but he also became influenced by the naturalism of Italian painter Caravaggio.
Rodríguez became renowned for his realistic, complex portraits. In his later years, the Spanish master produced a renowned portrait of Pope Innocent X (See below) and the famed "Las Meninas" (See above).
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Portrait of Innocent X, circa 1650
Oil on canvas
Height: 141 cm (55.5 in); Width: 119 cm (46.8 in)
Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome
The pope, born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, was initially wary of having his portrait taken by Velázquez, but relented after he was given reproductions of examples of Velázquez's portraiture. A contributing factor for this large advancement in the painter's career was that he had already depicted a number of members of Pamphilj's inner court. Yet the pope remained wary and cautious, and the painting was initially displayed to only his immediate family, and was largely lost from public view through the 17th and 18th centuries. The parchment held by the pope contains Velázquez's signature. More on this painting
Velázquez set up his own studio after completing his apprenticeship in 1617. A year later, he married Pacheco's daughter, Juana. By 1621, the couple had two daughters.
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Old Woman Cooking Eggs, circa 1618 .
Oil on canvas
100.5 × 119.5 cm (39.5 × 47 in)
Scottish National Gallery
Velázquez frequently used working-class characters in early paintings like this one, in many cases using his family as models; the old woman here also appears in his Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (1618). There is some dispute about what cooking process is actually depicted with some suggesting not frying but poaching, leading to an alternative title of the painting, Old Woman Cooking Eggs or Old Woman Poaching Eggs. More on this painting
In 1622, Velázquez moved to Madrid, where, thanks to his father-in-law's connections, he earned the chance to paint a portrait of the powerful Count-Duke of Olivares (See below). The count-duke then recommended Velázquez's services to King Philip IV; upon seeing a completed portrait, the young king of Spain decided that no one else would paint him and appointed Velázquez one of his court painters.
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares, circa 1636
Oil on canvas
Height: 313 cm (10.2 ft); Width: 239 cm (94 in)
Museo del Prado
The Count-Duke of Olivares was Philip IV’s powerful prime minister between 1621 and 1643. This picture was painted perhaps in celebration of a victory over the French at the border town of Fuenterrabía in 1638. In full armor and holding a baton, he is shown as a victorious commander.
This painting is an exception for the style of Velázquez as its design and color are more vigorous and pompous than his usual more somber portraits. The object of the work was to validate the power of Gaspar de Guzman.
Olivares is portrayed on horseback, an honor usually reserved for monarchs that reflects the power he attained as valido or right hand of the king (equivalent to the current prime minister's office). More on this painting
Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
The Coronation of the Virgin, c. 1635 - 1636
Oil on canvas
Height: 178.5 cm.; Width: 134.5 cm.
Museo del Prado
The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, places a crown on the head of Mary as Queen of Heaven. In early versions the setting is a Heaven imagined as an earthly court, staffed by saints and angels; in later versions Heaven is more often seen as in the sky, with the figures seated on clouds. The subject is also notable as one where the whole Christian Trinity is often shown together, sometimes in unusual ways. Although crowned Virgins may be seen in Orthodox Christian icons, the coronation by the deity is not. Mary is sometimes shown, in both Eastern and Western Christian art, being crowned by one or two angels, but this is considered a different subject. More on the Coronation of the Virgin
This was Velázquez`s last religious painting. The iconography of Velázquez`s Coronation of the Virgin is traditional, following earlier models by Dürer and El Greco. The cherub leaning back on the right recalls a similar one in an engraving by Schelte of Bolswert after Rubens` Assumption of the Virgin. The canvas`s dimensions and the smaller-than-life-size figures are unusual for Velázquez and may reflect his need to adapt to the pre-existing series of paintings. Even the Virgin`s gesture, with one hand on her bosom, may have been intended to recall the Virgin`s left hand in Turchi`s Annunciation. More on this painting
Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Paul the Hermit, Ca. 1634
Oil on canvas
Height: 261 cm.; Width: 192.5 cm.
Museo del Prado
Saint Anthony or Antony (251–356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony by various epithets: Anthony the Great, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, and Anthony of Thebes. For his importance among the Desert Fathers and to all later Christian monasticism, he is also known as the Father of All Monks. His feast day is celebrated on January 17 among the Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Egyptian calendar used by the Coptic Church.
The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism, particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations. He is often erroneously considered the first Christian monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, the first to go into the wilderness, a geographical move that seems to have contributed to his renown. Accounts of Anthony enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the often-repeated subject of the temptation of St. Anthony in Western art and literature. More Saint Anthony
Paul of Thebes, commonly known as Paul, the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite (d. c. 341) is regarded as the first Christian hermit. He is not to be confused with Paul the Simple, who was a disciple of Anthony the Great. Paul of Thebes was born around 227 in the Thebaid of Egypt.
Paul and his married sister lost their parents. In order to obtain Paul's inheritance, his brother-in-law sought to betray him to the persecutors. Paul fled to the Theban desert as a young man during the persecution of Decius and Valerianus around AD 250.
He lived in the mountains of this desert in a cave near a clear spring and a palm tree, the leaves of which provided him with raiment and the fruit of which provided him with his only source of food until he was 43 years old; when a raven started bringing him half a loaf of bread daily. He would remain in that cave for the rest of his life, almost a hundred years.
Paul of Thebes is known to posterity because around the year 342, Anthony the Great was told in a dream about the older hermit's existence, and went to find him. Jerome related that Anthony the Great and Paul met when the latter was aged 113. They conversed with each other for one day and one night. The Synaxarium shows each saint inviting the other to bless and break the bread, as a token of honor. St. Paul held one side, putting the other side into the hands of Father Anthony, and soon the bread broke through the middle and each took his part. When Anthony next visited him, Paul was dead. Anthony clothed him in a tunic which was a present from Athanasius of Alexandria and buried him, with two lions helping to dig the grave. More on Saint Paul the Hermit
The subject is drawn from the narration in Jacobo de la Voragine`s 13th-century Golden Legend of Saint Anthony the Abbot`s voyage to the Egyptian desert to visit Saint Paul, the first Christian hermit (4th century). Saint Anthony, whom Velázquez presents dressed in the black-hooded, brown habit of the Hospitallers of Saint Anthony, appears five times in the painting. In the background, he asks his way from a centaur and also converses with a satyr. In a hollow among boulders that recall Patinir`s huge, rocky Landscape with Saint Jerome (already in the Royal Collection at that time, and now at the Museo del Prado), he is depicted knocking on the holy Anchorite`s door. In the foreground, he converses with Saint Paul and is surprised by the raven that brings Paul his daily bread. The final episode is shown at the left: after hearing that Paul has died, he discovers two lions digging the hermit`s tomb. More on this painting
Velázquez traveled to Italy from June 1629 to January 1631, where he was influenced by the region's great artists. After returning to Madrid, he began a series of portraits that featured members of the royal family on horseback. Velázquez also devoted time to painting the dwarves who served in King Philip's court, taking care to depict them as complex, intelligent beings. Along with his painting duties, Velázquez undertook increasing responsibilities within the court, ranging from wardrobe assistant to superintendent of palace works.
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
The Surrender of Breda, ca. 1635
Oil on canvas
Height: 307 cm (10 ft); Width: 367 cm (12 ft)
Museo del Prado
On June 5, 1625 the Dutch governor of Breda, Justinus van Nassau, surrendered the keys of that city to Ambrosio Spínola, the Genoese general commanding the Spanish tercios (a group of soldiers that included pikemen, swordsmen and musketeers) of Flanders. Breda`s extraordinary strategic importance made it one of the most disputed cities in the Spanish monarchy`s prolonged war against the United Provinces of the North. Its conquest after a lengthy siege was considered a military accomplishment of the first order, generating a plethora of texts and images intended to exalt the winners. It is therefore not surprising that the decision to decorate the Buen Retiro Palace`s Hall of Realms with a series of paintings narrating the military triumphs of Philip IV`s reign called for a depiction of what was probably the most resounding victory of all. More on this painting
Velázquez made a second trip to Italy from 1649 to 1651. During this time, he was given the opportunity to paint Pope Innocent X (See above), producing a work that is considered among the finest portraits ever rendered.
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Portrait of Juan de Pareja, c. 1650
Oil on canvas
Height: 81.3 cm (32 in); Width: 69.9 cm (27.5 in)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Velázquez most likely executed this portrait of his enslaved assistant in Rome during the early months of 1650. According to one of the artist's biographers, when this landmark of western portraiture was first put on display it "received such universal acclaim that in the opinion of all the painters of different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth." Months after depicting his sitter in such a proud and confident way, Velázquez signed a contract of manumission that would liberate him from bondage in 1654. From that point forward, Juan de Pareja worked as an independent painter in Madrid, producing portraits and large-scale religious subjects. More on this painting
Velázquez also produced a portrait of his servant, Juan de Pareja (See above), which is admired for its striking realism, and the "Venus Rokeby," (See below) his only surviving female nude.
Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
Vulcan's Forge, c. 1630
Oil on canvas
Height: 223 cm.; Width: 290 cm.
Museo Nacional del Prado
A figure suddenly appears on the left in a forge where various blacksmiths are working, dressed in an orange robe and wearing a laurel wreath, with rays of light emerging from his head. This is Apollo, who addresses himself to Vulcan, the blacksmith nearest to him, whose stance reveals his lameness. Everyone has stopped working, astonished by the news Apollo is recounting: the adultery of Vulcan`s wife, the goodness Venus, with Mars, god of war, whose armour is being made at the forge. This episode, taken from Ovid`s Metamorphoses, provides the basis for one of Velázquez`s most ambitious and unique works, marking a before and after in his career from both a technical and a compositional and spatial viewpoint. More on this painting
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
Rokeby Venus, c. 1644
Oil on canvas
Height: 122.5 cm (48.2 in); Width: 175 cm (68.8 in)
National Gallery
The Rokeby Venus also known as The Toilet of Venus, Venus at her Mirror, Venus and Cupid, was probably painted during the artist's visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess Venus in a sensual pose, lying on a bed and looking into a mirror held by the Roman god of physical love, her son Cupid. The painting is in the National Gallery, London.
In this work, Velázquez combined two established poses for Venus: recumbent on a couch or a bed, and gazing at a mirror. She is often described as looking at herself in the mirror, although this is physically impossible since viewers can see her face reflected in their direction. This phenomenon is known as the Venus effect. In a number of ways the painting represents a pictorial departure, through its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the observer of the painting. More on this painting
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
he Triumph of Bacchus, between circa 1628 and circa 1629
Oil on canvas
Height: 165 cm (64.9 in); Width: 225 cm (88.5 in)
Museo del Prado
Velázquez painted The Triumph of Bacchus after arriving in Madrid from Seville and just before his voyage to Italy. The work was painted for Philip IV. The painting shows Bacchus surrounded by drunks. In Madrid, The Triumph of Bacchus has been described as the masterpiece of Velázquez's 1620s paintings.
In the work, Bacchus is represented as a person at the center of a small celebration, but his skin is paler than that of his companions, rendering him more easily recognizable. Unusually, the rest of the group, apart from the figure naked to the waist behind the god, are in the contemporary costume of poor people in 17th-century Spain. The work represents Bacchus as the god who rewards or gifts men with wine, temporarily releasing them from their problems. In Baroque literature, Bacchus was considered an allegory of the liberation of man from the slavery of daily life. More on this painting
Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
Mercury and Argus, Ca. 1659
Oil on canvas
Height: 127 cm.; Width: 250 cm.
Museo del Prado
In Argos lived Inachus' most famous daughter Io, a beautiful girl who became a priestess of Hera and attracted the amorous attention of Zeus himself. Zeus, although being married to Hera, seduced many a beautiful woman, often in disguise. In the diguise of a cloud, he seduced Io.
His wife Hera, seeing them in each others arms, flew into a rage with Io and turned her into a cow. Then she tied the cow to an olive-tree in the sacred grove of Mycenae and set Argus the All-seeing, a beast with eyes all over his body and tremendous strength, to keep watch on it. But Zeus set Hermes to steal Io, which he did by lulling Argus to sleep with the music of his pipes. But no sooner was this done than Hera sent a gadfly to persecute the unfortunate Io whom it caused to run madly from one country to another. After crossing the Ionian sea (and thus giving it its name), Io wandered through Illyria, Aenus, the Bosporus the Crimea and Asia, coming ultimately to Egypt and resuming human form. There she maried king Telegonus and, after her death, was worshipped as a goddess under the name Isis. More on Mercury and Argus
Velázquez returned to his portraiture after rejoining the Madrid court, his technique more assured than ever. In 1656, he produced perhaps his most acclaimed work, "Las Meninas" (See above). In this snapshot-like painting, two handmaidens dote on future empress Margarita Theresa while Velázquez peers from behind a large easel, ostensibly studying the king and queen, though his gaze meets the viewers.
Workshop of Diego Velazquez
Gathering of Gentlemen
47.2 x 77.9 cm
Oil on canvas
Louvre, Paris
In 1658, Velázquez was made a knight of Santiago. After being tasked with decoration responsibilities for the wedding of Maria Theresa and Louis XIV, Velázquez became ill. He died in Madrid on August 6, 1660.
Attributed controversially to Diego Velázquez.
Quarrel before the Spanish embassy (La rissa), c. Around 1630
Oil on copper,
cm. 28.9 × 39.6
Rome, Pallavicini Collection
Velázquez is remembered as one of the great masters of Western art. Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali are among the artists who considered him a strong influence, while French Impressionist Edouard Manet described the Spanish great as "the painter of painters." More on Diego Velázquez
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