19 Works, September 11th. is Artist Gerard de Lairesse's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #201

Gerard de Lairesse (1640–1711)

Hercules between Vice and Virtue, c. 1685

Oil on canvas

Height: 112 cm (44 in); Width: 181 cm (71.2 in)

Louvre Museum

The theme comes from the famous apologue of Prodicas, transmitted by Xenophon, often represented by painters (Raphael, Carrache, Rubens, etc., cf. Panofsky). Vice is embodied by the provocative Voluptuousness, accompanied by an old woman in the role of matchmaker. The attribute of chaste Virtue is a horse bit, a symbol of restraint and moderation. Behind Hercules, already on the path to good, a Fame and, in the background, the temple of glory which rewards good deeds. More on this painting

Hercules at the crossroads, also known as the Choice of Hercules and the Judgement of Hercules, is an ancient Greek parable attributed to Prodicus and known from Xenophon. It concerns the young Heracles/Hercules who is offered a choice between Vice and Virtue—a life of pleasure or one of hardship and honour. In the early modern period it became a popular motif in Western art. More on Hercules at the crossroads

Gerard or Gérard (de) Lairesse (11 September 1641 – June 1711) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His broad range of skills included music, poetry, and theatre. His importance grew in the period following the death of Rembrandt. His treatises on painting and drawing, Grondlegginge Ter Teekenkonst (1701),based on geometry and Groot Schilderboek (1707), were highly influential on 18th-century painters.

Gerard de Lairesse (1640–1711)

An Allegory of the Senses, c. 1668

Oil on canvas

H 137.2 x W 182.9 cm

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

The senses are represented in this painting by the five main figures, each of whom holds or does something associated with a particular sense. But while the senses are short-lived, true love, symbolized by the statue of Cupid, is eternal. Such a grand and moralizing painting was probably commissioned by someone both learned and wealthy, presumably a member of the van Rijn family whose children are believed to be the models in the painting.

In 1730, Elizabeth van Rijn married Jacques-Philippe d'Orville, a celebrated Amsterdam professor, from whose descendant this painting was purchased in 2001. Lairesse was one of the greatest and most celebrated artists of his day, and a leading exponent of French-style Classicism. More on this painting

Gerard de Lairesse

Allegory of Abundance (? Allegory of the Blessings of the Peace of Breda), c. 1667

Oil on canvas

150 x 135 cm.

Haags Historisch Museum, The Hague

Central in this painting is a standing woman with a winged scepter topped by a hand and eye. She is Industria. She looks at the seated woman who, with her many breasts, represents fertile nature, and points to the statue that is crowned with flowers. The marble woman is an amalgam of several female statues. This painting must have been a commissioned chimneypiece—perhaps his first in Amsterdam—and he did his best to make a memorable work that would have dazzled Amsterdam connoisseurs. More on this painting

De Lairesse was born in Liège and was the second son of painter Renier de Lairesse (1597-1667). He studied art under his father and from 1655 under Bertholet Flemalle. He worked in Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle for Maximilian Henry of Bavaria from 1660. In 1664 De Lairesse fled from Liège after an affair with two sisters, his models, led to difficulties. He travelled north with a girl named Marie Salme and married her in Visé. The couple settled in Utrecht, where a son was baptized in April 1665. When his talent as an artist was discovered by the art dealer Gerrit van Uylenburgh, he moved to Amsterdam. De Lairesse arrived with his violin, with which he impressed Jan van Pee and probably Anthonie Claesz de Grebber in Uylenburgh's studio. In 1670 a son, Abraham, was born; the engraver Abraham Blooteling, with whom he collaborated, was the witness at the baptism; another son was baptized in 1673.

Gerard de Lairesse (Dutch, Liège 1641–1711 Amsterdam)

Apollo and Aurora, c. 1671

Oil on canvas

80 1/2 x 76 1/8 in. (204.5 x 193.4 cm)

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Apollo is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. More on Apollo

Aurōra is the Latin word for dawn, and the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry.  Aurōra renews herself every morning and flies across the sky, announcing the arrival of the Sun. More on Aurōra

De Lairesse was celebrated in his lifetime as a painter and advocate for an idealizing manner based on the study of classical antiquity. This work, likely destined to hang over the mantelpiece in a grand Amsterdam home, depicts the sun god consorting with the goddess of the dawn, a popular subject in French and Italian painting at the time. The attractively individualized young faces have led to speculation that they may be disguised portraits of a newly married couple. More on this painting

Gerard de Lairesse  1641-1711

Venus Presenting Weapons to Aeneas

Oil on canvas

Height: 161.8 cm (63.7 in); Width: 165.8 cm (65.2 in)

Museum Mayer van den Bergh 

de Lairesse has illustrated the passage from Virgil's Aeneid (Book VIII) in which Venus descends amid clouds to bring weapons made by Vulcan to her son Aeneas: "See the promised gifts, product of my husband's art. Now seek out the Laurentine enemy and defy proud Turnus".

Gerard de Lairesse  1641-1711

Selene and Endymion

Oil on canvas

177 cm × width 118.5 cm

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The chaste goddess of the moon, Selene (or Diana), is in love with the shepherd Endymion. Only at night when he is asleep does she quietly creep down to him, accompanied by Cupid, whose torch symbolizes burning love. 

Cupid with a burning torch points Selene (or Diana) to the sleeping Endymion. Behind the moon goddess, the moon shines in the sky between the clouds. More on this painting

Gerard de Lairesse  1641-1711

Odysseus and Calypso

Oil on canvas

125 cm × width 94 cm

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Greek poet Homer recounts how the heroic warrior Odysseus found refuge on the island of the nymph Calypso. The Trojan War is over: Amor, the god of love, now teasingly places the battle helmet on Calypso’s head. Odysseus and Calypso instantly fall in love. This painting hung in the Soestdijk hunting lodge, in the apartment of Mary Stuart, the consort of William III.

The naked goddess puts an arm around Odysseus' shoulders. An Amor places a plumed helmet on her head. In the background a curtain stretched in front of a tree. More on this painting

Gerard de Lairesse, (Flemish, 1641-1711)

Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus, c. 1670

Oil on canvas

91.4 x 113.7 cm (36 x 44 3/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Greek goddess Calypso held the hero Odysseus captive for seven years, preventing his return home from the Trojan War. Despite Calypso’s charms and the luxurious surroundings, Odysseus longed for his home and family, so the Olympian gods finally allowed his freedom. Here, the god Hermes swoops down to free Odysseus from Calypso’s embrace. De Lairesse, popularly known as the “Dutch Poussin,” introduced to the Netherlands a classicizing style influenced by artists of the French Academy. More on this painting

Gerard de Lairesse  1641-1711
Mercury Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus, c. 1680

Oil on canvas

132 cm × width 96 cm

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

During his wanderings, Odysseus encounters the nymph Calypso, who falls in love with him and holds him captive on her island. Jupiter then sends Mercury to command her to let Odysseus return to his wife. 

Mercury orders Calypso to let Odysseus leave. In the foreground, an Amor poses with Odysseus' helmet and weapons. More on this painting

Lairesse, Gerard de. 1641-1711

The Landing of Helena led by Paris to the Priam Palace in Troy, c. 1685-1690

Other title: Cleopatra and Antoine disembark at Tarsus

Oil on canvas

Height: 0.6 m; Width: 0.67 m

Louvre Museum , Paris

Other title: Cleopatra and Antoine disembark at Tarsus (wrongly said, J. Foucart, p. 172)

Description / FeaturesIt is advisable to return to the previous title to Villot, that given by sales and documents of the 18th century.

Scene inspired by the Iliad and rarely represented. Old King Priam is in the far right, beyond the palace entrance arcade. More on this painting

Lairesse, Gerard de. 1641-1711

Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes, c. 1685

Oil on canvas

138 x 190 cm

Mauritshuis, The Hague

The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Knowing her son was destined to die if he went to fight in the Trojan war, Thethis, a sea nymph, disguised Achilles as a woman and entrusted him to King Lycomedes, in whose palace on the isle of Scyros he lived among the king's daughters. Odysseus and other Greek chieftains were sent to fetch Achilles. They cunningly laid a heap of gifts before the girls - jewellery, clothes and other finery, but among them a sword, spear and shield. When a trumpet was sounded, Achilles instinctively snatched up the weapons and thus betrayed his identity.

This subject is rare in seventeenth-century Northern Netherlandish art. However, it became extremely popular in Flanders after Rubens' version appeared in c. 1616. There are three known versions of the theme by Lairesse: in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig. More on this painting

De Lairesse moved to Spinhuissteeg where he became a member of the literary society Nil volentibus arduum, which seems to have gathered in his house from 1676 until 1681. In 1682 he sold copies of sheet music composed by Lully. In May 1684 he rented the nearby house of Caspar Barlaeus. His pupils Philip Tideman and Louis Abry lived there too.

Lairesse, Gérard de (Liège, 1641 - Amsterdam, 1711)

Abraham receiving the three angels of the Lord who will announce to him the next birth of his son Isaac, c. 1680-1685

Oil on canvas

Height: 1.2 m; Width: 1.64 m

Louvre Museum, Paris

Abraham receiving the three angels of the Lord who will announce to him the imminent birth of his son Isaac with Sarah, Abraham's old wife, who will soon have a son despite his advanced age. The angels are represented here without wings, in a purely secular fashion, and the tent of the biblical story, omitted.

Gerard de Lairesse  1641-1711

The Expulsion of Heliodorus From The Temple, c. 1674

oil on canvas

Height: 204 cm (80.3 in); Width: 193 cm (75.9 in)

Private collection

The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple illustrates the biblical episode from 2 Maccabees (3:21-28). Heliodorus is ordered by Seleucus IV Philopator, the king of Syria, to seize the treasure preserved in the Temple in Jerusalem. Answering the prayers of the high priest Onias III, God sends a horseman assisted by two youths to drive Heliodorus out.

Lairesse, Gerard de. 1641-1711

Sacrifice, c. 1675-1680

Oil on canvas

113,5х148 cm

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrew and Greeks, and possibly existed before that. Evidence of ritual human sacrifice can also be found back to at least pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica as well as in European civilizations. Varieties of ritual non-human sacrifices are practiced by numerous religions today. More on Sacrifice

Gerard de Lairesse

The Anointing of Salomon, probably 1668

Oil on canvas

130 x 200 cm.

Bradford, England, Cartwright Hall

Priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and led him to Gihon. There the priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 40And all the people went up following him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise. More on the Anointing of Salomon

Lairesse, Gerard de. 1641-1711

Hagar in the Desert, c. 1675-1680

Oil on canvas

74x60 cm

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Hagar is a biblical person in the Book of Genesis Chapter 16. She was an Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, who gave her to Abraham "to wife" to bear a child. The product of the union was Abraham's firstborn, Ishmael, the progenitor of the Ishmaelites.

After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and the tension between the women returned. At a celebration after Isaac was weaned, Sarah found the teenage Ishmael mocking her son, and demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed but God told Abraham to do as his wife commanded because God's promise would be carried out through both Isaac and Ishmael.

The name Hagar originates from the Book of Genesis, and is only alluded to in the Qur'an. She is considered Abraham's second wife in the Islamic faith and acknowledged in all Abrahamic faiths. In mainstream Christianity, she is considered a concubine to Abraham. More on Hagar

Lairesse, Gerard de. 1641-1711

Jesus Christ celebrating Passover with his disciples, c. 1664-1665

Oil on canvas

Height: 1.37 m; Width: 1.55 m

Louvre Museum, Paris

De Lairesse produced paintings as decorations for the Soestdijk Palace between 1676 and 1683. In 1684 he moved to the Hague and worked there for a year. In 1685 he painted works for the Loo Palace. In 1688-1689, he decorated the civil council chamber of the Hof van Holland at the Binnenhof, presently known as the Lairesse room, with seven paintings with subjects from the history of the Roman Republic, all displaying a remarkable legal iconography.

Gerard de Lairesse  1641-1711
Cleopatra’s Banquet

Oil on canvas

74 cm × width 95.5 cm

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Cleopatra made a bet with Mark Antony on who could give the most lavish banquet. She won by dissolving a priceless pearl in vinegar and then drinking the mixture. De Lairesse painted this story like a scene from a play, situating the figures clad in antique costumes in a fitting décor of Classical architecture and furniture. His classicizing style breathed new life into Dutch painting.

On the right is Cleopatra with bare breasts at the table, on the left is Marcus Antonius. Several guests and members of the royal household are present around the table. Pictured is the moment when Lucius Plancus prevents Cleopatra from taking a second pearl from her earring to dissolve in her wine. Mark Antony loses the bet. On the floor in front of the table is a hunting dog. In the background the architecture of the palace interior with caryatids. More on this painting

De Lairesse suffered from congenital syphilis, which caused him to go blind around 1690. After losing his sight, De Lairesse was forced to give up painting and focused instead on lecturing twice a week. De Lairesse explicitly states that despite his blindness, he was still able to design a perfect composition. He drew on two chalk boards and was assisted by his audience and his son Johannes who collected their notes. After several years two books on art were published.

Lairesse, Gerard de, copy after. 1641-1711

Water Deities (copy)

Oil on canvas

113х93,5 cm

Hermitage

Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Another important focus of worship of water deities has been springs or holy wells. More on Water deities 

De Lairesse expressed his disapproval of realism style used by Dutch Golden Age painters like Rembrandt, Adriaen Brouwer, Adriaen van Ostade and Frans Hals because they often portrayed everyday scenes and ordinary people such as soldiers, farmers, maids, and even beggars. In De Lairesse's view, paintings ought to show lofty biblical, mythological and historical scenes, and felt that a complex historical allegory was the highest of genres. "A good painting has a clue, indicating what holds the composition together.

De Lairesse attracted many pupils, including Jan van Mieris, Simon van der Does, and the brothers Teodor and Krzysztof Lubieniecki. According to Houbraken, Jan Hoogsaat was one of his best pupils. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), his pupils also included Jacob van der Does (the Younger), Gilliam van der Gouwen, Louis Fabritius Dubourg, Theodor Lubienitzki, Bonaventura van Overbeek, Jan Wandelaar. More on Gerard de Lairesse

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16 Works, Today, June 6th. is Diego Velázquez's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #155

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 Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660) was a 17th-century Spanish painter who produced "Las Meninas" (See below) and many renowned portraits as a member of King Philip IV's royal court.

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

The move to the royal court gave Velázquez access to a vast collection of works and brought him into contact with important artists such as Flemish baroque master Peter Paul Reubens, who spent six months at the court in 1628. Among Velázquez's notable works from that period were "The Triumph of Bacchus,"  (See below) in which a group of revelers falls under the powerful spell of the Greek god of wine.

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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