Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

VELAZQUEZ, DIEGO RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA Y...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 978 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

VELAZQUEZ, DIEGO See also:RODRIGUEZ DE See also:SILVA Y (1599-166o) , the See also:head of the See also:Spanish school of See also:painting and one of the greatest painters the See also:world has known, was See also:born in See also:Seville See also:early in See also:June 1599, the See also:year in which See also:Van Dyck also first saw the See also:light at See also:Antwerp. His See also:European fame is of comparatively See also:recent origin, dating from the first See also:quarter of the 19th See also:century. Till then his pictures had lain immured in the palaces and museum of See also:Madrid; and from want of popular appreciation they had to a large extent escaped the rapacity of the See also:French marshals during the See also:Peninsular See also:War. In 1828 See also:Sir See also:David See also:Wilkie* wrote from Madrid that he See also:felt himself in the presence of a new See also:power in See also:art as he looked at the See also:works of Velazquez, and at the same See also:time found a wonderful See also:affinity between this See also:master and the See also:English school of portrait painters, being specially reminded of the See also:firm, square See also:touch of See also:Raeburn. He was struck by the sense of modernness of impression, of See also:direct contact with nature, and of vital force which pervaded all the See also:work of Velazquez, in landscape as well as in See also:portraiture. Time and See also:criticism have now fully established his reputation as one of the most consummate of painters, and accordingly See also:Ruskin says of him that " everything Velazquez does may be taken as absolutely right by the student." At the See also:present See also:day his marvellous technique and strong individuality have given him a power in European art such as is exercised by no other of the old masters. Although acquainted with all the See also:Italian See also:schools, and the friend of the foremost painters of his day, he was strong enough to withstand every See also:external See also:influence and to work out for himself the development of his own nature and his own principles of art. A realist of the realists, he painted only what he saw; consequently his See also:imagination seems limited. His religious conceptions are of the See also:earth earthy, although some of his works, such as the " Crucifixion " and the " See also:Christ at the See also:Column," are characterized by an intensity of pathos in which he ranks second to no painter. His men and See also:women seem to breathe, his horses are full of See also:action and his See also:dogs of See also:life, so See also:quick and See also:close is his grasp of his subject. See also:England was the first nation to recognize his extraordinary merit, and it owns by far the largest See also:share of his works outside of See also:Spain.' 1 See See also:Cunningham's Life, vol. ii. Of the 274 works attributed to Velazquez by Mr See also:Curtis, 121 are in the See also:United See also:Kingdom, while See also:France has but 13,.See also:Austria-See also:Hungary 12, See also:Russia 7, and See also:Germany about the same number.

Beruete, who only allows 90 known pictures to be genuine works of Velazquez, allots 14 to the United Kingdom, which number still considerably exceeds that of any other See also:

country See also:save Spain. But Velazquez can only be seen in all his power in the See also:gallery of the Prado at Madrid, where over sixty of his works are pre-served, including See also:historical, mythological and religious subjects, as well as landscapes and portraits. It is hardly creditable to the patriotism of Seville, his native See also:town, that no example of his work is to be seen in the gallery of that See also:city. Seville was then in the height of its prosperity, " the See also:pearl of Spain," carrying on a See also:great See also:trade with the New World, and was also a vigorous centre of literature and art. For more than a See also:hundred years it had fostered a native school of painting which ranked high in the See also:Peninsula, and it reckoned among its citizens many whose names are prominent in Spanish literature. Velazquez was the son of Rodriguez de Silva, a lawyer in Seville, descended from a See also:noble Portuguese See also:family, and was baptized on the 6th of June 1594. Following a See also:common Spanish usage, he is known by his See also:mother's name Velazquez. There has been considerable diversity of See also:opinion as to his full name, but he was known to his contemporaries as Diego de Silva Velazquez, and signed his name thus. He was educated, says Palomino, by his parents in the fear of See also:God, and was in-tended for a learned profession, for which he received a See also:good training in See also:languages and See also:philosophy. But the See also:bent of the boy was towards art, and he was placed under the See also:elder See also:Herrera, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian influence of the early Seville school. From his works in Seville we can see that Herrera was a bold and effective painter; but he was at the same time a See also:man of unruly See also:temper, and his pupils could seldom stay See also:long with him. Velazquez remained but one year—long enough, however, to influence his life.

It was probably from Herrera that he learned to use long brushes, or, as J. E. See also:

Hodgson, R.A., suggested, brushes with long bristles, by means of which his See also:colours seem to be floated on the See also:canvas by a light, fluent touch, the envy and despair of his successors. , From Herrera's studio Velazquez betook himself to a very different master, the learned and pedantic See also:Pacheco, the author of a heavy See also:book on painting, and, as we see by his works at Madrid, a dull, See also:commonplace painter, though at times he could rise to a rare freedom of handling and to a See also:simple, direct See also:realism that is in direct See also:contradiction to the cult of See also:Raphael preached by him in his See also:writing. A portrait by Pacheco, owned by Sir See also:Frederick See also:Cook, which shows this master's full power, was exhibited at See also:Burlington See also:House in 1907. In Pacheco's school Velazquez remained for five years, studying proportion and See also:perspective, and seeing all that was best in the See also:literary and See also:artistic circles of Seville. Here also he See also:fell in love with his master's daughter Juana, whom he married in 1618 with the hearty approval of Pacheco, who praises his See also:hand and See also:heart, claiming at the same time all the See also:credit of having been his master. The See also:young painter set himself to copy the commonest. things about him-earthenware jars of the country See also:people, birds, See also:fish, See also:fruit and See also:flowers of the See also:market-See also:place. To paint well and thoroughly what he saw, to See also:model with his See also:brush, and to See also:colour under the influence of light and.. shade were for him the vital purpose, the first See also:lesson, in his art. It was with deliberate purpose that Velazquez painted these bodegones (See also:tavern-pieces), as they were called; for we are told that he said he would rather be the first painter of common things than the second in higher art. Carrying out this See also:idea still further,. Velazquez felt that to master the subtlety of the human See also:face he must make. this a See also:special study, and he accordingly engaged a See also:peasant lad to be his servant and model, making innumerable studies in See also:charcoal and See also:chalk, and catching his every expression.

We see this model, probably, in the laughing boy of the Hermitage " Break-fast," or in the youngest of the " Musicians " acquired for the See also:

Berlin Museum in 1906. In such work as this, and in his studies by the wayside, Velazquez laid the See also:foundation of his subsequent mastery of expression, of penetration into See also:character, and of rendering the life of his sitter to the quick. He saw the world around him teeming with life and See also:objects interesting to the painter, and he set himself to render these. His manner is as See also:national as that of Cervantes. He lived and died racy of the See also:soil. The position and reputation of Velazquez were now assured at Seville. There his wife See also:bore him two daughters—all his family so far as is known. The younger died in See also:infancy, while the elder, Francisca, in due time married Bautista del Mazo, a painter, whose large family is that which is represented in the important picture in See also:Vienna which was at one time called the " Family of Velazquez." This picture is now by common consent given to Mazo. In the gallery at Madrid there is a portrait of Juana, his wife, holding a See also:drawing-tablet on her See also:knee. There was formerly in the See also:possession of See also:Lord See also:Dudley another portrait of his wife by Velazquez, painted, perhaps, in the first year of their happy See also:marriage. Of this early Seville manner we have an excellent example in " El Aguador " (the See also:Water-See also:Carrier) at ' Apsley House (See also:London). Firm almost to hardness, it displays close study of nature.

One can see in it the youthful struggle to portray the effects of light stealing here and there over the prominent features of the face, groping after the effects which the painter was to master later on. The brushwork is bold and broad, and the outlines firmly marked. As is usual with Velazquez at this time, the See also:

harmony of colours is red, See also:brown and yellow, reminding one of See also:Ribera. For sacred subjects we may turn to the " See also:Adoration of the Magi " at Madrid, dated 1619, and the " Christ and the Pilgrims of See also:Emmaus " in the collection of See also:Don See also:Manuel de See also:Soto in See also:Zurich, in both of which we have excellent examples of his realism. In the " St See also:John in the See also:Desert " we again find his peasant boy transformed into the See also:saint. But Velazquez was now eager to see more of the world. Madrid, with its See also:fine Titians, held out strong inducements. Accordingly, in 1622, fortified with letters of introduction to See also:Fonseca, who held a good position at See also:court, he spent some months there, accompanied only by his servant. Here he painted the portrait of the poet Gongora, a See also:commission from Pacheco, but the picture known by that name in the gallery at Madrid cannot with certainty be identified as Velazquez's portrait; it is more probably by See also:Zurbaran: The impression which Velazquez made in the See also:capital must have been very strong, for in the following year he was summoned to return by See also:Olivares, the all-powerful See also:minister of See also:Philip IV., fifty ducats being allowed to defray his expenses. On this occasion he was accompanied by his See also:father-in-See also:law. Next year (1624) he received from the See also:king three hundred ducats to pay the cost of the removal of his family to Madrid, which became his See also:home for the See also:remainder of his life. Weak and worthless as a king, Philip had inherited the art-loving propensities of his See also:race, and was proud to be considered a poet and a painter.

It is one of the best features of his character that he remained for a See also:

period of See also:thirty-six years the faithful and attached friend of Velazquez, whose merit he soon recognized, declaring that no other painter should ever paint his portrait. By his equestrian portrait of the king, painted in 1623, Velazquez secured See also:admission to the royal service with a See also:salary of twenty ducats per See also:month, besides medical attendance, lodgings and See also:payment for the pictures he might paint. The portrait was exhibited on the steps of See also:San Felipe, and was received with See also:enthusiasm, being vaunted by poets, among them Pacheco. It has unfortunately disappeared, having probably perished in one of the numerous fires which occurred in the royal palaces. The Prado, however, has two portraits of the king (Nos. 1070 and 1071)in which the harshness of the Seville period has disappeared and the tones are more delicate. The modelling is firm, recalling that of See also:Antonio Mor, the Dutch portrait painter of Philip .II., who exercised a considerable influence on the Spanish school. In the same year the See also:prince of See also:Wales (after-wards See also:Charles I.) arrived at the court of Spain. We are told that he sat to Velazquez, but the picture has disappeared.' In 1628 See also:Rubens visited Madrid on a See also:diplomatic See also:mission for nine months, and Velazquez was appointed by the king to be his See also:guide among the art treasures of Spain. Rubens was then In 1847 Mr John Snare of See also:Reading exhibited a picture which had come from the See also:sale of Lord See also:Fife in t8o9, and which he maintained to be the long-lost work. This led to much controversy; but the claim was rejected by experts, and the picture is said to be now in See also:America.at the height of his fame, and had undertaken as a commission from Olivares the large pictures which now adorn the great See also:hall in Grosvenor House (London). These months might have been a new turning-point in the career of a weaker man than Velazquez, for Rubens added to his brilliant See also:style as a painter the manner of a fascinating courtier.

Rubens had a high opinion of the See also:

talent of Velazquez, as is attested by Fuensalida, but he effected no See also:change in the style of the strong Spaniard. He impressed him, however, with the See also:desire to see See also:Italy and the works of her mighty painters. In 1627 the king had given for competition among the painters of Spain the subject of the See also:Expulsion of the See also:Moors. Velazquez bore off the See also:palm; but his picture was destroyed in a See also:fire at the See also:palace in 1734. Palomino, however, describes it. Philip III. points with his See also:baton to a See also:crowd of men and women driven off under See also:charge of soldiers, while Spain, a majestic See also:female, sits looking calmly on. The See also:triumph of Velazquez was rewarded by his being appointed See also:gentleman See also:usher. To this was shortly afterwards added a daily See also:allowance of twelve reals, the same amount as was allowed to the court barbers, and ninety ducats a year for See also:dress, which was also paid to the dwarfs, buffoons and players about the king's See also:person—truly a curious estimate of talent at the court of Spain. As an extra payment he received (though it was not paid for five years) one hundred ducats for the picture of Bacchus, painted in 1629 (No. 1058 of the Madrid gallery). The spirit and aim of this work are better understood from its Spanish name, " Los Borrachos " or " Los Bebedores " (the Topers), who are paying See also:mock See also:homage to a See also:half-naked See also:ivy-crowned young man seated on a See also:wine See also:barrel. It is like a See also:story by Cervantes, and is brimful of jovial See also:humour.

One can easily see in this picture of national See also:

manners how Velazquez had reaped the benefit of his close study of peasant life. The painting is firm and solid, and the light and shade are more deftly handled than in former works. Al-together, this See also:production may be taken as the most advanced example of the first style of Velazquez. It is usual to See also:divide his artistic career by his two visits to Italy, his second style following the first visit and his third the second. Roughly speaking, this somewhat arbitrary See also:division may be accepted, though it will not always apply, for, as is usual in the See also:case of many great painters, his styles at times overlap each other. Velazquez rarely signed his pictures, and the royal archives give the See also:dates of only his more important works. See also:Internal See also:evidence and See also:history, as regards his portraits, See also:supply to a certain extent the See also:rest. In 1629 Philip gave Velazquez permission to carry out his desire of visiting Italy, without loss of salary, making him besides a present of four hundred ducats, to which Olivares added two hundred. He sailed from See also:Barcelona in See also:August in the See also:company of the See also:marquis de See also:Spinola, the conqueror of See also:Breda, then on his way to take command of the Spanish troops at See also:Milan. It was during this voyage that Velazquez must have heard the details of the surrender of Breda from the lips of the See also:victor, and he must have sketched his fine head, known to us also by the portrait by Van Dyck. But the great picture was not painted till many years later, for Spinola had fallen into disfavour at court. In See also:Venice Velazquez made copies of the " Crucifixion " and the " Last Supper " of See also:Tintoretto, which he sent to the king, and in See also:Rome he copied See also:Michelangelo and Raphael, lodging in the See also:Villa See also:Medici till See also:fever compelled him to remove into the city.

Here he painted the" Forge of See also:

Vulcan " (No. 1059 of the Madrid gallery), in which See also:Apollo narrates to the astonished Vulcan, a See also:village blacksmith, the See also:news of the infidelity of See also:Venus, while four Cyclops listen to the See also:scandal. The mythological treatment is similar to that of the " Bacchus ": it is realistic and Spanish to the last degree, giving a picture of the interior of an Andalusian smithy, with Apollo thrown in to make the story tell. The conception is common-place, yet the impression it produces is undoubted from the vividness of the See also:representation and the power of expression. The modelling of the half-naked figures is excellent. Altogether this picture is much See also:superior to the other work painted at the same time, " See also:Joseph's Coat," which now hangs in the See also:Escorial. Both these works are evidently painted from the same See also:models. In looking at these two pictures the spectator is especially struck by the fact that they betray no trace of the influence of the Italians. Velazquez remained true to himself. At Rome he also painted the two beautiful landscapes of the gardens.of the Villa Medici, now in the Madrid museum (1106 and 1107), full of sparkle and See also:charm. Landscape as an expression of art never had attraction for the Spaniards; but Velazquez here shows how great a master he was in this See also:branch. The silvery views of See also:Aranjuez, which at one time passed under his name, are now considered to be the work of his See also:pupil Mazo.

After a visit to See also:

Naples in 1631, where he worked with his countryman Ribera, and painted a charming portrait of the Infanta Maria, See also:sister of Philip, Velazquez returned early in the year to Madrid. He then painted the first of many portraits of the young prince, Don Baltasar See also:Carlos, the See also:heir to the See also:throne, dignified and lordly even in his childhood, caracoling in the dress of a See also:field-See also:marshal on his prancing steed. The See also:Wallace collection includes an example which is probably a copy by Mazo; but the finest in the United Kingdom is the well-known picture at Grosvenor House, a masterly example of the second manner of Velazquez. The colour is warm and See also:bright, the workmanship solid and fused like See also:enamel, while light and See also:air pervade every corner. The See also:scene is in the See also:riding-school of the palace, the king and See also:queen looking on from a See also:balcony, while Olivares is in attendance as master of the See also:horse to the prince. Don Baltasar died in 1646 at the See also:age of seventeen, so that judged by his age this picture must have been painted about 1641, two years before the fall of Olivares. This powerful minister was the early and See also:constant See also:patron of the painter. His impassive, saturnine face is See also:familiar to us from the many portraits painted by Velazquez, a face which, like his royal master's, seems never to have known a smile, and in which are written See also:pride and disdain. Two are of surpassing excellence—the full-length formerly in the Holford collection (exhibited at Burlington House in 1887), stately and dignified, in which he wears the See also:green See also:cross of See also:Alcantara and holds a wand, the badge of his See also:office as master of the horse; the other the great equestrian portrait of the Madrid gallery (No. 1060), in which he is flatteringly represented as a field-marshal in all his pomp during an action. It is difficult to overpraise the excellence of this work, either as regards its dramatic power or its masterly See also:execution. In these portraits Velazquez has well repaid the See also:debt of gratitude which he owed to his first patron, whom he stood by in his fall, thus exposing himself to the See also:risk—and it was not a light one—of incurring the anger of the jealous Philip.

The king, however, showed no sign of malice towards his favoured painter.., Faithful in few things, Philip kept true to Velazquez, whom he visited daily in his studio in the palace, and to whom he stood in many attitudes and costumes, as a See also:

huntsman with his dogs, as a See also:warrior in command of his troops, and even on his knees at See also:prayer, wearing ever the same dull uninterested look. His See also:pale face and lack-lustre See also:eye, his See also:fair flowing See also:hair and moustaches curled up to his eyes, and his heavy projecting See also:Austrian under-See also:lip are known in many a portrait and nowhere more supremely than in the wonderful canvas of the London National Gallery (No. 745), where he seems to live and breathe. Few portraits in the whole range of art will compare with this work, in which the consummate handling of Velazquez is seen at its best, for it is. in his See also:late and most perfect manner.' From one of the equestrian portraits of the king, painted in 1638, the sculptor Montanes modelled a statue which was See also:cast in See also:bronze by the Florentine sculptor Tacca, and which now stands in the Plaza del See also:Oriente at Madrid, " a solid Velazquez," as it has been well named by See also:Ford. This portrait exists no more; but there is no lack of others, for Velazquez ' In this and in all his portraits Philip wears the golilla, a stiff See also:linen See also:collar projecting at right angles from the See also:neck. It was invented by the king, who was so proud of it that he celebrated it by a festival, followed by a procession to See also:church to thank God for the blessing (Madame D'See also:Aulnoy, Voyage d'Espagae). The golilla was thus the height of See also:fashion and appears in most of the male portraits of the period: In regard to the wonderful structure of Philip's moustaches, It is said that, to preserve their See also:form, they were encased during the See also:night in perfumed See also:leather covers called bieoteras.was in constant and close attendance on Philip, accompanying him in his journeys to See also:Aragon in 1642 and 1644, and was doubt-less present with him when he entered See also:Lerida as a conqueror. It was then that he painted the great equestrian portrait (No. 1066 of the Madrid gallery) in which the king is represented as a great See also:commander leading his troops—a rble which Philip never played except in a theatrical See also:pageant. All is full of animation except the stolid face of the king. It hangs as a See also:pendant to the great Olivares portrait—See also:fit rivals of the neighbouring Charles V. by See also:Titian, which doubtless fired Velazquez to excel himself, and both remarkable for their silvery See also:tone and their feeling of open air and harmony combined with brilliancy. The light plays on the See also:armour and See also:scarf thrown to the See also:wind, showing how completely Velazquez had mastered the effects he strove to reach in his early days.

Of these two great works the Wallace collection includes small but excellent copies. But, besides the See also:

forty portraits of Philip by Velazquez, or attributed to him, we have portraits' of other members of the royal family, of Philip's first wife, See also:Isabella of See also:Bourbon, and her See also:children, especially of her eldest son, Don Baltasar Carlos, of whom, besides those already mentioned, there is a beautiful full-length in a private See also:room at See also:Buckingham Palace. Cavaliers, soldiers, churchmen and poets of the court, as for example the Quevedo at Apsley House (shown in Burlington House in 1887), sat to the painter and, even if forgotten by history, will live on his canvas. The See also:Admiral Pulido See also:Pareja from Lord See also:Radnor's collection, now at the National Gallery, is-said to have been taken by Philip for the living man; nevertheless, A. de Beruete is emphatic in denying Velazquez's authorship of this picture, which he attributes to Mazo. It has been remarked that the Spaniards have always been' chary of committing to canvas the portraits of their beautiful women. Queens and infantas may be painted and exhibited, but ladies rarely. One wonders who the beautiful woman can be that adorns the. Wallace collection, the splendid brunette so unlike the usual fair-haired female sitters to Velazquez. She belongs to this period of his work, to the ripeness of his See also:middle period. See also:Instinct with life, her bosom seems to heave and the See also:blood to pulsate through her See also:veins. The touch is firm but See also:free, showing the easy strength of the great master. Rarely has flesh been painted with such a glow, yet with such reserve.

This picture is one of the ornaments of the Wallace collection. But, if we have few ladies of the court of Philip, we have in great plenty his buffoons and dwarfs. Even these deformed or half-witted creatures attract our sympathy as we look at their portraits by Velazquez, who, true to his nature, treats them gently and kindly, as in " El Primo " (the Favourite), whose intelligent face and huge See also:

folio with See also:ink-See also:bottle and See also:pen by his See also:side show him to be a wiser and better-educated man than many of the gallants of the court. "El Bobo de Coria," "El Nino de Vallecas" and " Pablillos," a buffoon evidently acting a See also:part, all belong to this middle period. From these commissioned portraits of the menials of the court it is pleasant to turn to one of the greatest of historical works, the " Surrender of Breda," often known as " See also:Las Lanzas," from the serried See also:rank of lances breaking the See also:sky, which is believed to have been painted about 1647. It represents the moment when the vanquished See also:Justin of See also:Nassau in front of his Dutch troops is submissively bending as he offers to his conqueror Spinola the keys of the town, which, with courteous See also:grace, the victor refuses to accept, as he See also:lays his hand gently on the See also:shoulder of his defeated foe. Behind Spinola stand the Spanish troops bearing their lances aloft, while beyond is a long stretch of the See also:Low Country, dotted with fortifications and giving the impression of vast space and distance. The picture is full of light and air, and is perhaps the finest example of the silvery bluish style of Velazquez. In conception it is as fine as in execution, and one looks in vain for a trace of " the malicious See also:pencil " which Sir See also:William See also:Stirling-See also:Maxwell discerned in the treatment of Justin and his gallant Dutchmen. The greatest of the religious paintings by Velazquez belongs also to this middle period, the " Christ on the Cross " (Madrid gallery, No. 1055). Palomino says it was painted in 1638 for the See also:convent of San Placido.

It is a work of tremendous power and of great originality, the moment chosen being that immediately after See also:

death. The Saviour's head hangs on his See also:breast and a See also:mass of dark tangled hair conceals part of the face. The beautiful form is projected against a See also:black and hopeless sky from which light has been blotted out. The figure stands absolutely alone, without any See also:accessory. The See also:skull and See also:serpent described by Sir William Stirling-Maxwell were added by some pious bungler at a much later date. The picture was lengthened to suit its place in an See also:oratory; but this addition has since been removed. To the same period belongs the great " See also:Boar See also:Hunt " at the National Gallery, a magnificent work in spite of some restorations. The smaller " Boar Hunt " in the Wallace collection is from the brush of Mazo; and the " Conversation, a See also:Group of Thirteen Persons," at the Louvre, a picture which in conception has much in common with these See also:hunting scenes, probably owes its origin to the same artist. A. de Beruete emphatically denies Velazquez's authorship of this much be-lauded picture, which he describes as a " mediocre See also:imitation, probably by Mazo." Velazquez's son-in-law Mazo had succeeded him as usher in 1634, and he himself had received steady promotion in the royal See also:household, receiving a See also:pension of 50o ducats in 1640, in-creased to 700 in 1648, for portraits painted and to be painted, and being appointed inspector of works in the palace in 1647. Philip now entrusted him with the carrying out of a See also:design on which he had long set his heart, the See also:founding of an See also:academy of art in Spain. See also:Rich in pictures, Spain was weak in statuary, and Velazquez was commissioned to proceed to Italy to make purchases. Accompanied by his faithful Slave Pareja, whom he taught to be a good painter, he sailed from See also:Malaga in 1649i landing at See also:Genoa, and proceeding thence by Milan to Venice, buying Titians, Tintorettos and Veroneses as he went.

A curious conversation which he is said to have had with Salvator See also:

Rosa is reported by Boschini,l in which the Spaniard with perfect frankness confesses his want of appreciation of Raphael and his admiration of Titian, "first of all Italian men." It seems a possible story, for Velazquez bought according to his likings and painted in the spirit of his own ideals. At See also:Modena he was received with much favour by the See also:duke, and doubtless here he painted the portrait of the duke at the Modena gallery and two splendid portraits which now adorn the See also:Dresden gallery, for these pictures came from the Modena sale of 1746. They presage the See also:advent of the painter's third and latest manner, a noble example of which is the great portrait of See also:Innocent X. in the See also:Doria palace at Rome, to which city Velazquez now proceeded. There he was received with marked favour by the See also:pope, who presented him with a See also:medal and See also:gold See also:chain. Of this portrait, thought by Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds to be the finest picture in Rome, Palomino says that Velazquez took a copy to Spain. There exist several in different galleries, some of them possibly studies for the See also:original or replicas painted for Philip. One of the most remarkable is that in Apsley House, exhibited in Burlington House in 1887. The modelling of the stern impassive face comes near to perfection, so delicate are the gradations in the full light; all sharpness of outline has disappeared; and the features seem moulded by the broad and masterly brushwork. When closely examined, the work seems coarse, yet at the proper distance it gives the very essence of living flesh. The handling is rapid but unerring. Velazquez had now reached the manera abreviada, as the Spaniards See also:call this bolder style. This is but another way of saying that his early and laborious. studies and his close observation of nature had given to him in due time, as to all great painters, the power of representing what he saw by simpler means and with more See also:absolute truth.

At Rome he painted also a portrait of his servant Pareja, probably the picture of Lord Radnor's collection, which procured his See also:

election into the academy of St See also:Luke. Philip was now wearying for his re-turn; accordingly, after a visit to Naples, where he saw his old friend Ribera, he returned to Spain by Barcelona in 1651, taking with him many pictures and 300 pieces of statuary, which he 1 See Stirling-Maxwell's Velazquez and his Works, p. 161.afterwards arranged and catalogued for the king. Undraped See also:sculpture was, however,: abhorrent to the Spanish Church, and after Philip's death these works gradually disappeared. Isabella of Bourbon had died in 1644, and the king had married See also:Mariana of Austria, whom Velazquez now painted in many attitudes. He was specially chosen by the king to fill the high office of " aposentador See also:major," which imposed on him the See also:duty of looking after the quarters occupied by the court whether at home or in their journeys—a responsible See also:function, which was no See also:sinecure and interfered with the exercise of his art. Yet far from indicating any decline, his works of this period are amongst the highest examples of his style. The See also:dwarf `" Don Antonio el Ingles (the Englishman) with his See also:dog, " See also:Aesop," " See also:Menippus " and " the Sculptor Montanes," all in the Madrid gallery, show his surest and freest manner. To these may be added the charming portraits of the royal children in the Louvre and Vienna, among the choicest of his works. It is one of these infantas, See also:Margarita Maria, the eldest daughter of the new queen, that is the subject of the well-known picture " Las Meninas " (the Maids of See also:Honour), 1o6a, in the Madrid gallery, painted in 1656, where the little See also:lady holds court, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, her dwarfs and her mastiff, while Velazquez is seen See also:standing at his easel. This is the finest portrait we have of the great painter. It is a face of much dignity, power and sweetness—like his life, equable and serene, unruffled by care.

" Las Meninas " was the picture of which Luca See also:

Giordano said that it was the " See also:theology of painting," another way of expressing the opinion of Sir See also:Thomas See also:Lawrence, that this work is the philosophy of art, so true is it in rendering the desired effect. The result is there, one knows not by what means, as if by a first intention without labour, absolutely right. The story is told that the king painted the red cross of See also:Santiago on the breast of the painter, as it appears to-day on the canvas. Velazquez did not, however, receive the honour till 1659, three years after the execution of this work. Even the powerful king of Spain could not make his favourite a belted See also:knight without a commission to inquire into the purity of his lineage on both sides of the house, The records of this commission have been found among the archives of the See also:order of Santiago by M. Villaamil. Fortunately the See also:pedigree could See also:bear See also:scrutiny, as for generations the family was found free from all taint of See also:heresy, from all trace of Jewish or Moorish blood and from contamination by trade or See also:commerce. The difficulty connected with the fact that he was a painter was got over by his being painter to the king and by the See also:declaration that he did not sell his pictures. But for this royal See also:appointment, which enabled him to See also:escape the censorship of the See also:Inquisition, we should never have had his splendid " Venus and See also:Cupid," formerly belonging to Mr Morritt of Rokeby Hall and bought by the National Art Collections Fund for £45,000 for the National Gallery in 1905. It is painted in his latest manner and is worthy of comparison with Titian? There were in truth but two patrons of art in Spain—the church and the art-loving king and court. See also:Murillo was the artist favoured by the church; while Velazquez was patronized by the See also:crown.

One difference, however, deserves to be noted. Murillo, who toiled for a rich and powerful church, See also:

left scarcely sufficient means to pay for his See also:burial, while Velazquez lived and died in the enjoyment of good salaries and See also:pensions. Yet on occasions Philip gave commissions for religious pictures to Velazquez—among others, and belonging to this later period, the " See also:Coronation of the Virgin " (Madrid, 1056), splendid in colour—a harmony of red, See also:blue and See also:grey—but deficient in religious feeling and dignity. It was painted for the oratory of the queen, doubtless Mariana, in the palace at Madrid. Another royal commission for the hermitage of Buen Retiro was the " St See also:Anthony the See also:Abbot and St See also:Paul the See also:Hermit," painted in 1659, the landscape 2 Some uncertainties in the proprietorial history of this picture have led to considerable discussion concerning its authenticity. But the See also:suggestion that Mazo's See also:signature could be detected on it was repudiated by an See also:expert See also:committee in 1910 who carefully examined the painting. of which excited the warm admiration of Sir David Wilkie (No. 1057 in the Prado). The last of his works which we shall name is " Las Hilanderas " or the Spinners (Madrid,: Io6r), painted about 1656, representing the interior of the royal See also:tapestry works. The subject is nothing, the treatment every-thing. It is full of light, air and See also:movement, splendid in colour and marvellous in handling. This picture, Raphael See also:Mengs said, seemed to have been painted not by the hand but by the pure force of will.

We see in it the full ripeness of the power of Velazquez, a concentration of all the art-knowledge he had gathered during his long artistic career of more than forty years. In no picture is he greater as a colourist. The See also:

scheme is simple—a harmony of red, bluish-green, grey and black, which are varied and blended with consummate skill. In 166o a treaty of See also:peace between France and Spain was to be consummated by the marriage of the infanta Maria See also:Theresa with See also:Louis XIV., and the ceremony was to take place in the See also:Island of Pheasants, a small swampy island in the Bidassoa. Velazquez was charged with the decoration of the Spanish See also:pavilion and with the whole scenic display. In the midst of the grandees of the first two courts in Christendom Velazquez attracted much See also:attention by the See also:nobility of his bearing and the splendour of his See also:costume. On the 26th of June he returned to Madrid, and on the 31st of See also:July he was stricken with fever. Feels See also:ing his end approaching, he signed his will, appointing as his See also:sole executors his wife and his firm friend Fuensalida, keeper of the royal records. He died on the 6th of August 166o, passing away in the full possession of his great See also:powers, and leaving no work behind him to show a trace of decay. He was buried in the Fuensalida vault of the church of San Juan, and within eight days his wife Juana was laid beside him. Unfortunately this church was destroyed by the French in 1811, so that his place of interment is now unknown. There was much difficulty in adjusting the tangled accounts out-standing between Velazquez and the See also:treasury, and it was not till 1666. after the death of Philip, that they were finally settled.

Velazquez can hardly be said to have formed a school of painting. Apart from the circumstance that his occupations at court would have prevented this, his See also:

genius was too See also:personal for transmission by teaching. Yet his influence on those immediately connected with him was considerable. In 1642 he befriended young Dlurillo on his arrival in Madrid, received him into his house, and directed his studies for three years. His son-in-law Mazo painted in his manner, and doubtless many pictures by See also:Maze are attributed to the master. Carreno, though never a pupil, was a favourite and had the good sense to appreciate him and imitate him. His faithful slave Pareja studied his methods and produced work which by the favour of Velazquez procured his manumission from Philip. But the appreciation of the fine talent of Velazquez passed away quickly in Spain, as that country began to fall to pieces. In addition to the See also:standard works by Palomino (1724), Cean See also:Bermudez (1800) and Pacheco (1649), see the See also:biographical See also:notice by Don Pedro de Madrazo in his Catalogo del Muse() del Bradt) (1872); Velazquez and his Works (1855) and See also:Annals of Artists of Spain (1848), by W. Stirling (afterwards Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell); Ford's Handbook to Spain (1855) and his See also:article in the English Cydopaedia; Velazquez and Murillo, by Charles B. Curtis (1883); the works of W.

See also:

Burger (T. There) ; Gesch. d. Malerei, by Woltmann and Woermann; Sir See also:Edmund Head's Handbook _ of Spanish Painting (1848) ; Works of Velazquez (prints), by G. W. See also:Reid (1872); See also:Gas. d. See also:Beaux Arts, art. " Velazquez, by Paul Lefort (second period, 1879-82) ; Carl Justi, Diego Velazquez u. sein Jahrhundert (2 vols., See also:Bonn, 1888); The Life of Velazquez, by Sir See also:Walter See also:Armstrong (London, r896); Velazquez, by R. A. M. Steven-son (London, 1899) ; Velazquez outside the Prado Museum, by Don Manuel Mesonero See also:Romanos (Madrid, 1899); The Life and Works of Don Diego Velazquez, by Don Jacinto Octavio Picon (Madrid, 1899) ; Days with Velazquez, by C. See also:Lewis See also:Hind (London, 1906); and, finally, Don A. de Beruete's standard work on the subject, Velazquez (London, 1906), which contains reproductions of all the master's paintings of which the author admits the authenticity. (J.

F. W.; P. G.

End of Article: VELAZQUEZ, DIEGO RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA Y (1599-166o)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
VELARIUM 		[next]
VELEIA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries