16 Works, Today, June 11th. is Joseph Heintz the Elder's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #159

Joseph Heintz the Elder  (1564–1609)

The Rape of Proserpina, circa 1595

Oil on copper

63 x 94 cms | 24 3/4 x 37 ins

Gem‰ldegalerie, Dresden, Germany

Proserpina, or Proserpine is an ancient Roman goddess whose cult, myths and mysteries were based on those of Greek Persephone and her mother Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain and agriculture. The Romans identified Proserpina with their native fertility goddess Libera, daughter of the grain and agriculture goddess Ceres and wife to Liber.

Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor (also known as Cupid) to hit Pluto with one of his arrows. Proserpina was in Sicily, at the Pergusa Lake near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna. He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in the underworld of which he was the ruler.

Her mother Ceres went looking for her across all of the world, and all in vain. She was unable to find anything. In her desperation, Ceres angrily stopped the growth of fruits and vegetables, bestowing a malediction on Sicily. Ceres refused to return to Mount Olympus and started walking the Earth, creating a desert with each step.

Worried, Jupiter sent Mercury to order Pluto to free Proserpina. Pluto obeyed, but before letting her go he made her eat six pomegranate seeds, because those who have eaten the food of the dead could not return to the world of the living. This meant that she would have to live six months of each year with him, and stay the rest with her mother. More on Proserpina

Joseph Heintz (or Heinz) the Elder (11 June 1564 – 15 October 1609) was a Swiss painter, draftsman and architect.

Heintz was born in Basle. He appears to have been a pupil of Hans Bock, and to have educated himself by diligent practice in copying the works of Hans Holbein the younger. Between 1585 and 1587 he lived in Rome, registering himself a pupil; to Hans von Aachen. 

Joseph Heintz the elder (1564–1609)

The Four Elements

Oil on panel

H 40 x W 28 cm

Southampton City Art Gallery

Joseph Heintz the Elder (circle of) Basel, 1564 – Prague, 1609

Allegory of Redemption, ca. 1600

Oil on canvas

88 × 101 cm

Szépművészeti Múzeum 

Joseph Heintz the Elder

Sacco di Roma/ Sack of Rome

Oil on copper

18.5 x 32.5 cm

Private collection

The Sack of Rome on 24 August 410 AD was undertaken by the Visigoths led by their king, Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position first by Mediolanum in 286 and then by Ravenna in 402. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a paramount position as "the eternal city" and a spiritual center of the Empire. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, and the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike. More on the Sack of Rome

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlandish, Breda (?) ca. 1525–1569 Brussels)

The Harvesters, c. 1565

Oil on wood

45 7/8 x 62 7/8 in. (116.5 x 159.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In this work, the viewer is transported to a hot summer day in the Netherlands. It belongs to a series, commissioned by the Antwerp merchant Niclaes Jongelinck for his suburban home. The cycle originally included six paintings showing the times of the year. Apart from The Harvesters, which is usually identified as representing July–August, four other paintings of the group have survived (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and Lobkowicz Collection, Prague). Bruegel’s series is a watershed in the history of Western art. The religious pretext for landscape painting has been suppressed in favor of a new humanism, and the unidealized description of the local scene is based on natural observations. More on this painting

He also studied ancient art and copied paintings by Renaissance artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Polidoro da Caravaggio. In 1587 he traveled to Florence and Venice, absorbing the styles of Tintoretto, Titian, and Paolo Veronese.

Joseph Heintz the Elder  (1564–1609)

Diana and Actaeon, c. 1590s

Oil on copper plate

Height: 40 cm (15.7 in); Width: 49 cm (19.2 in)

Kunsthistorisches Museum, 

In his Metamorphoses, Ovid recounts how Actaeon stumbled upon Diana, the chaste goddess of the hunt, and her nymphs bathing. She punished his transgression by turning him into a stag, and he was then devoured by his own hunting dogs. Compared to the refined poses beloved of his fellow-painters Spranger and von Aachen, the numerous bathing nudes in this composition bear witness to Heintz 'interest in verisimilitude. Diana and Actaeon

Joseph Heintz the Elder

Zeus and Callisto

Copperplate engraving

40 x 31 cms | 15 1/2 x 12 ins

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien, Austria

We may assume that in this small painting, produced more or less at the same time as Leda, Heintz depicts another of the loves of Zeus, the father of the gods, here identified by his traditional attributes, eagle and thunderbolt. The hounds and the bow and arrow suggest it is the story of Callisto, a chaste nymph whom Zeus lured into his embrace disguised as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. More on this painting

Joseph Heintz the Elder  (1564–1609)

Diana and Callisto

Oil on copper

Height: 47 cm (18.5 in); Width: 33 cm (12.9 in)

Private collection

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph, and one of the followers of Artemis (Diana for the Romans) who attracted Zeus. According to some writers, Zeus transformed himself into the figure of Artemis to lure Callisto and seduce her. She became pregnant and when this was eventually discovered, she was expelled from Artemis's group, after which a furious Hera, the wife of Zeus, transformed her into a bear. Later, just as she was about to be killed by her son when he was hunting, she was set among the stars as Ursa Major ("the Great Bear"). She was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas by Zeus. More on Callisto

Joseph Heintz the Elder  (1564–1609)

The Fall of Phaeton, c. 1596

Oil on wood

122.5 x 66.5 cms | 48 x 26 ins

Museum der Bildenden Kunste, Leipzig, Germany

Phaethon, the son of the Oceanid Clymene and the sun god Helios, challenged by Epaphus and his playmates, sought assurance from his mother that his father was the sun god Helios. She gave him the requested assurance and told him to turn to his father for confirmation. He asked his father for some proof that would demonstrate his relationship with the sun. When the god promised to grant him whatever he wanted, he insisted on being allowed to drive the sun chariot for a day. According to some accounts Helios tried to dissuade Phaethon, telling him that even Zeus was not strong enough to steer these horses, but reluctantly kept his promise. Placed in charge of the chariot, Phaethon was unable to control the horses. In some versions, the Earth first froze when the horses climbed too high, but when the chariot then scorched the Earth by swinging too near, Zeus decided to prevent disaster by striking it down with a thunderbolt. Phaethon fell to earth and was killed in the process. More on  Phaethon

Joseph Heintz the Elder

Leda and the Swan, c. 1605

Oil on copperplate

45 x 37 cm

Private collection

Leda, in Greek legend, usually believed to be the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. She was also believed to have been the mother (by Zeus, who had approached and seduced her in the form of a swan) of the other twin, Pollux, and of Helen, both of whom hatched from eggs. Variant legends gave divine parentage to both the twins and possibly also to Clytemnestra, with all three of them having hatched from the eggs of Leda, while yet other legends say that Leda bore the twins to her mortal husband, Tyndareus. Still other variants say that Leda may have hatched out Helen from an egg laid by the goddess Nemesis, who was similarly approached by Zeus in the form of a swan.The divine swan’s encounter with Leda was a subject depicted by both ancient Greek and Italian Renaissance artists; Leonardo da Vinci undertook a painting (now lost) of the theme, and Correggio’s Leda (c. 1530s) is a well-known treatment of the subject. More Leda and The Swan

Joseph Heintz the Elder

Leda and the Swan, c. 1605

Preparatory sketch

I have no further description, at this time

Leda and the Swan by Joseph Heintz the Elder (Basel 1564 – 1609 Prague) was lost for centuries and only recently rediscovered. The artist worked at the imperial court from 1591, and, as the date below his monogram tells us, he produced this painting in 1605 for Emperor Rudolf II (ruled 1576 – 1612). The Habsburg monarch resided at Prague and had a penchant for erotic-mythological subject matters. More on this painting

Attributed to Joseph Heintz the Elder

Glauco and the sorceress Circe

Oil on Canvas

50 X 41 cm

Private collection

In Greek mythology, Glaucus was a Greek prophetic sea-god, born mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. It was believed that he came to the rescue of sailors and fishermen in storms, having earlier earned a living from the sea himself.

Like those of most of the characters in Greek mythology Glaucus very numerous, but the best known is the one that starred alongside the Nymph Scylla and the witch Circe . Glauco was in love with the nymph Scylla, but after his transformation by Triton, she rejected it, horrified by his new appearance. Glaucus went to the witch Circe to provide him with a potion that would make him recover his lost love. Contrary to expectations, Circe did not help him because she fell in love with him. Glaucus rejected her and she retaliated by poisoning the water in which Scylla was bathing and turned her into a monstrous being with six dog heads. More on Glauco and the sorceress Circe

He next settled in Bohemia in 1591, and was at once appointed court painter to Rudolf II, but he remained in Prague for two years only, as in 1593 he was commissioned to make some copies from the antique for the emperor, and for that purpose went to Rome, where he spent some years. In 1604 we hear of him in Augsburg, and from the time we know little of his history, until his decease is recorded in a village near Prague. He was buried at the graveyard of the church of St John the Baptist in the Lesser Town of Prague.

Joseph Heintz the Elder Ä. (1564 Basel - 1609 Prague) 

Salome with the head Johannes d. Baptist, c. around 1600/1605

Oak wood

86.1 cm × 59.9 cm × 2 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, picture gallery

To complement his great collection of old German painting, Emperor Rudolf II did not shy away from copies or sensitive new creations. The "Salome" painted by Joseph Heintz is a reinterpretation of the "Judith" Cranachs the Elder (See below). The severed head is now arranged on a plate, the sword is missing and the image format and details of the clothing have been changed. In terms of color, Heintz succeeded in closely following Cranach's, but his painting is smoother and more painterly. More on this painting

Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, Kronach 1472–1553 Weimar)

Judith with the Head of Holofernes, ca. 1530

Oil on linden

35 1/4 x 24 3/8 in. (89.5 x 61.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Jewish heroine Judith presents the severed head of the Assyrian general who besieged her city, having seduced and then beheaded him with his own sword. Appropriately, she is "dressed to kill" and wears an elaborate contemporary costume that would have appealed to Cranach’s courtly patrons. The painter and his workshop produced several versions of this successful composition, which contrasts the gruesome head and the serene beauty of the biblical heroine. At the lower right is Cranach's insignia: a crowned winged serpent with a ring in its mouth. More on this painting

After the composition of Joseph Heintz the Elder

The Lamentation, c. 1628

Oil on canvas

132 × 96.5 cm

Szépművészeti Múzeum

The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over his body. This event has been depicted by many different artists.

 

Lamentation works are very often included in cycles of the Life of Christ, and also form the subject of many individual works. One specific type of Lamentation depicts only Jesus' mother Mary cradling his body. These are known as Pietà (Italian for "pity") More The Lamentation of Christ

After Joseph Heintz the Elder (German/Swiss, 1564–1609)

The Entombment

Oil on copper

43.4 x 33.4 cm. (17.1 x 13.1 in.)

Private collection

The burial of Jesus refers to the burial of the body of Jesus after crucifixion, described in the New Testament. According to the canonical gospel accounts, he was placed in a tomb by a man named Joseph of Arimathea. In art, it is often called the Entombment of Christ. More on The Entombment

Heintz's paintings included religious images, portraits, and, following the emperor's taste, erotic mythological themes. They were at one time in high demand, but later on suffered an eclipse. Among them are a family portrait in Bern and that of Rudolf II in Vienna. He was constantly investigating subtle questions of light, and almost all of his landscapes show the interest he took in this technical matter. A notable work by him is the Rape of Proserpine (See top), which hangs in the Dresden Gallery, and was engraved by Lukas Kilian; in the same gallery are two other works, Lot and His Daughters and Ecce Homo. Finally there is his portrait of Constance of Austria. He had a son Joseph, who signed with the same name, and who painted a few religious pictures; several of these works hitherto attributed to the son are now believed to be late productions by the father. More on Joseph Heintz the Elder

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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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