Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish Baroque painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He is generally considered one of the greatest artists in the history of Western art.
Paintings by Diego Velázquez
The Surrender of Breda (1635)
La rendición de Breda (English: The Surrender of Breda, also known as Las lanzas – The Lances) is a painting by the Spanish Golden Age painter Diego Velázquez. He painted it during the years 1634 and 1635, inspired by his visit to Italy with Ambrogio Spinola, the Genoese-born Spanish general who conquered Breda on June 5, 1625. The painting depicts the exchange of the key of Breda from the Dutch to the Spanish.
It is considered one of Velázquez's best works. Velázquez composed The Surrender of Breda into two halves, which included the Dutch leader Justinus van Nassau and the Spanish Genoese general Spinola. Jan Morris has called it "one of the most Spanish of all pictures".
Rokeby Venus (1644)
The Rokeby Venus ( ROHK-bee; also known as The Toilet of Venus, Venus at her Mirror, Venus and Cupid and, in Spanish, La Venus del espejo) is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. Completed between 1647 and 1651, and probably painted during the artist's visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess Venus in a sensual pose, lying on a bed with her back facing the viewer, and looking into a mirror held by the Roman god of physical love, her son Cupid. The painting is in the National Gallery, London.
Numerous works, from the ancient to the baroque, have been cited as sources of inspiration for Velázquez. The nude Venuses of the Italian painters, such as Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510) and Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538), were the main precedents. 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 some 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.
Las Meninas (1656)
Las Meninas (Spanish for 'The Ladies-in-waiting' pronounced [las meˈninas]) is a 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. It has become one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting for the way its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and for the uncertain relationship it creates between the viewer and the figures depicted.
The painting is believed by the art historian F. J. Sánchez Cantón to depict a room in the Royal Alcázar of Madrid during the reign of Philip IV, and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court, captured in a particular moment as if in a snapshot. Some of the figures look out of the canvas towards the viewer, while others interact among themselves. The five-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.
Las Hilanderas (1655)
Las Hilanderas (Spanish pronunciation: [las ilanˈdeɾas]; "The Spinners") is a painting by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, in the Museo del Prado of Madrid, Spain. It is also known by the title The Fable of Arachne. Most scholars regard it as a late work by the artist, dating from 1657 to 1658, but some argue that it was done c. 1644-48. Velázquez scholar Jonathan Brown writes that Las Hilanderas and Las Meninas are arguably Velázquez's "two greatest paintings.... [T]hey are the largest, most complicated compositions executed between 1640 and 1660, a period during which Velázquez painted mostly portraits of single figures".
Traditionally, it was believed that the painting depicted women workers in the tapestry workshop of Santa Isabel. In 1948, however, Diego Angulo 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.
Old Woman Frying Eggs (1618)
Old Woman Frying Eggs is a genre painting by Diego Velázquez, produced during his Seville period. The date is not precisely known but is thought to be around the turn of 1618 before his definitive move to Madrid in 1623. The painting is in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. 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.
Old Woman Frying Eggs is considered to be one of the strongest of Velázquez's early works. Like others, it shows the influence of chiaroscuro, with a strong light source coming in from the left illuminating the woman, her utensils and the poaching eggs, while throwing the background and the boy standing to her right into deep shadow. Here the chiaroscuro is very intense, so much so that it would be impossible to see the wall at the bottom of the painting but for the basket hanging from it; it simultaneously manages to combine the murky darkness and high contrasts of light and shadow with the use of subtle hues and a palette dominated by ochres and browns. The composition is organised as an oval with the middle figures in the nearest plane, thus drawing in the viewer.
The Lunch (Velázquez) (1617)
The Lunch is a very early painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, finished c. 1617. The work, an oil painting on canvas, is in the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg.
The painting portrays a table covered by a creased cloth, on which lie two pomegranates and a piece of bread. People attending the lunch include an aged man on the left and a young man on the right, while, in the background, an apparently carefree boy pours wine into a jug. The smiling man on the right appears to be giving the thumb signal.
Portrait of Innocent X (1700)
Portrait of Innocent X is a c. 1650 oil on canvas painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, depicting Pope Innocent X, head of the Catholic Church from 1644 to 1655. Many artists and art critics consider it the finest portrait ever created. It is housed in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome. A smaller version is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and a study is on display at Apsley House in London.
The painting is noted for its realism as an unflinching portrait of a highly intelligent, shrewd, and aging man. He is dressed in linen vestments, and the quality of the work is evident in the rich reds of his upper clothing, head-dress, and the hanging curtains.
The Triumph of Bacchus (1628)
The Triumph of Bacchus (Greek: Ο Θρίαμβος του Βάκχου) is a painting by Diego Velázquez, now in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid. It is popularly known as Los borrachos or The Drinkers (also The Drunks).
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, who paid Velázquez 100 ducats for it. The painting shows Bacchus surrounded by drunks. In Madrid, Velázquez was able to study the king's collection of Italian paintings and was no doubt struck by the nudity in many paintings as well as the treatment of mythological subjects.
Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan (1630)
Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan (Spanish: Apolo en la Fragua de Vulcano), sometimes referred to as Vulcan's Forge, is an oil painting by Diego de Velázquez completed after his first visit to Italy in 1629. Critics agree that the work should be dated to 1630, the same year as his companion painting Joseph's Tunic. It appears that neither of the two paintings were commissioned by the king, although both became part of the royal collections within a short time. The painting became part of the collection of the Museo del Prado, in Madrid, in 1819.
Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan has been cited as one of the most important works from Velázquez's first trip to Italy and "one of his most successful compositions with regard to the unified, natural interaction of the figures."
Christ Crucified (Velázquez) (1632)
Christ Crucified or Christ of Saint Placid is a 1632 painting by Diego Velázquez depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is the most famous religious painting in Spain. It was commissioned by the Benedictine nuns for the Convent of San Plácido in Madrid. It is a very simple composition, with no other figures than Christ in the cross, drawn with perfect anatomical proportions, with only a dark green background. The work is displayed in the Museo del Prado.
During his first visit to Rome between 1629 and 1631, Velázquez was able to study the paintings of the great italian masters. The influence of his observations on the representation of the nude figure can be seen in Christ Crucified as well as in his paintings Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan (1629), Joseph's Tunic (1630) and Mars Resting (1640).
The Waterseller of Seville (1620)
The Waterseller of Seville is the title of three paintings by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, dating from 1618–1622. The original version is considered to be among the finest works of the painter's Seville period and is displayed in the Wellington Collection of Apsley House. The original version was painted by Velázquez when he was in his late teens or early twenties. Looking at this painting, there is an older man, a young boy, and a bystander in the background. The old man is handing the young boy a glass of water, but they never look at each other, nor do they make eye contact with the viewer.
According to José Gudiol, the Waterseller of Seville by Velázquez was painted shortly before moving to Madrid. Gudiol also classified this painting as a bodegón, due to the depiction of beverages. Art historians typically compare this painting to the still lifes that were painted during the seventeenth century in Spain because this painting is very simple with a limited color range and Velázquez was working with still objects. This painting is done in a realistic style with a limited color palette, another characteristic of the bodegón genre. According to Jon Moffitt, this piece was not a commissioned work.
The Farmers' Lunch (1618)
The Farmers' Lunch (Almuerzo de campesinos) is one of the earliest paintings by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. Painted in oil on canvas in 1617, it combines a still life of food and drink with a depiction of three comic farmers, whose physiognomy the artist studies closely. The composition shows a younger man gesturing with his right hand to reinforce the story coming from his half-open lips, and an older man listening attentively while holding his cup up to a woman so she can refill it with wine. The still life includes fish, bread, a carrot, a lemon, and a copper vessel.
The Farmers' Lunch composition is very similar to another painting by Velázquez, The Lunch (c. 1617).