Diego Velázquez (1599-1660)

256 Pages·2018·14.348 MB·English

by  Carl Justi

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Self-Portrait, c. 1640.
Oil on canvas, 45 x 38 cm.
Museu de Belles Arts de València, Valencia.
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ISBN: 978-1-68325-697-7
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„The painters of every school who surround him in the museum of
Madrid, and who are all very well represented, seem completely like
fakers. He is the painter of painters.‰
– Édouard Manet
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Biography
6 June 1599 Christened in Seville in the Church of San Pedro.
1609-1610 Trains under Francisco de Herrera the Elder.
1610 Moves to the school of Francisco Pacheco.
1617 Passes examination for the title of Master.
1618 Marries PachecoÊs daughter, Juana de Miranda.
1622 Journey to Madrid. Portrait of Don Luis de Gongora y Argote.
1623 Return to Seville. Departure for Madrid. Appointed Painter to the King.
1627 Participates in a competition for a painting on the subject The Expulsion of the Moors,
which he wins. Appointed Gentleman Usher to the King (Uijer de cámara).
1628-1629 Rubens arrives in Madrid on a diplomatic visit.
1629 Rubens leaves Spain for England. Velázquez sails from Barcelona to Italy. Reaches
Genoa from where he travels to Venice, Ferrara, and Rome. Prince Baltasar Carlos is
born in Madrid.
1630 In Rome. Paints a self-portrait (lost), VulcanÊs Forge,and JosephÊs Bloody Coat Brought to
Jacob.Leaves Rome for Naples.
1631 Returns to Spain.
1632 Paints the portrait Don Baltasar Carlos with a Dwarf.
1633 VelázquezÊs fourteen-year-old daughter, Francisca, marries Juan Bautista Martínez del
Mazo. Together with Vicente Carducho inspects the quality of royal portraits in the palaces.
1634 Hands over his post as Gentleman Usher to Martínez del Mazo. Completes battle scenes
for the Hall of the Kingdoms in the Buen Retiro Palace.
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1635 The triumphal entry of the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand into Antwerp. The war with France begins.
1636 Receives the appointment as Gentleman of the Wardrobe (Ayuda de Guarda Ropa).
1640 A fire in the Buen Retiro Palace. Travels to Old Castile with Cano in search of paintings
for the Buen Retiro Palace. Rubens dies. Philip IV acquires the Flemish artistÊs works at the
posthumous auction. VelázquezÊs grandson, Jose, is christened.
1643 Receives the appointment as Gentleman of the Bedchamber (Ayuda de cámera).
Count-Duke of Olivares is exiled. Martínez del Mazo is appointed Painter to Prince
Baltasar Carlos.
1644 Among the KingÊs retinue in Aragón. Portrait of Philip IV. Queen Isabel of Bourbon dies.
Francisco Pacheco dies in Seville.
1649 Sails from Málaga to Genoa. The new Queen, Mariana of Austria, arrives in Madrid.
1650 Elected a member of the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. Accepted into the
Congregazione dei Virtuosiin Rome. In this city, paints the portraits of Pope Innocent X,
Cardinal Pamphili, Cardinal Camillo Massimi, Juan de Pareja, and others.
1651 Returns from his Italian journey. The Infanta Margarita is born.
1652 Appointed chief Chamberlain of the Imperial Palace. VelázquezÊs grandson, Melchor
Julian, is born.
1654 VelázquezÊs daughter, Francisca, dies. Renovation of the decoration of the Escorial begins.
1655 VelázquezÊs family moves to the Casa del Tesoro next to the Alcázar.
1656 Paints his masterpiece Las Meninas.
1658 Completes works in the Hall of Mirrors.
1659 Installed as a Knight of the Order of Santiago. The portraits Prince Philip Prosper and
Infanta Margarita Theresa(1651-1673) in a Blue Dressare sent to Vienna.
6 August 1660 Velázquez dies.
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Seville, 1599-1623
Spanish art flourished and reached its highest peak
in the 17th century. In the late 16th and early 17th
centuries, El GrecoÊs art shone forth brilliantly in
Toledo. He was a master, uniting both the Byzantine and
Italian heritage, who found a spiritual milieu for his
religious, philosophical and moral convictions on the
Iberian Peninsula. In Naples, Jusepe de Ribera, one of
the staunchest devotees of tenebrism, was renowned.
His art was filled with true Hispanic passion and
religious tension. In Seville, Francisco de Zurbarán,
Head of a Man in Profile
c. 1616
Oil on canvas, 39.5 x 35.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
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and later, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, decorated
numerous monasteries and churches with religious
canvasses. Velázquez holds a special place in this
constellation of great masters on account of the unusual
versatility of his art. This is reflected in both the content
and the stylistic originality of his work.
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, a native of
Seville, the capital of Andalusia, was christened on 6 June
1599. His parents, Juan Rodríguez de Silva and Jerónima
Velázquez, belonged to the minor nobility but were far
from wealthy. According to the Andalusian custom,
The Luncheon (Three Men at a Table)
c. 1617
Oil on canvas, 108.5 x 102 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
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