VELAZQUEZ, DIEGO

baptized June 6, 1599, Seville, Spain died Aug. 6, 1660, Madrid in full Diego Rodrguez de Silva Velzquez the most important Spanish painter of the 17th century, a giant of Western art. Velzquez is universally acknowledged as one of the world's greatest artists. The naturalistic style in which he was trained provided a language for the expression of his remarkable power of observation in portraying both the living model and still life. Stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting, he developed from a master of faithful likeness and characterization into the creator of masterpieces of visual impression unique in his time. With brilliant diversity of brushstrokes and subtle harmonies of colour, he achieved effects of form and texture, space, light, and atmosphere, that make him the chief forerunner of 19th-century French Impressionism. The principal source of information about Velzquez' early career is the treatise Arte de la pintura (The Art of Painting), published in 1649 by his master and father-in-law Francisco Pacheco, who is more important as a biographer and theoretician than as a painter. The first complete biography of Velzquez appeared in the third volume (El Parnaso espaol; The Spanish Parnassus) of El Museo pictrico y escala ptica (The Pictorial Museum and Optical Scale), published in 1724 by the court painter and art scholar Antonio Palomino. This was based on biographical notes made by Velzquez' pupil Juan de Alfaro, who was Palomino's patron. The number of personal documents is very small, and official documentation relating to his paintings is relatively rare. Since he seldom signed or dated his works, their identification and chronology has often to be based on stylistic evidence alone. Though many copies of his portaits were evidently made in his studio by assistants, his own production was not large and his surviving autograph works number fewer than 150. He is known to have worked slowly, and during his later years much of his time was occupied by his duties as a court official in Madrid. in full Diego Rodrguez De Silva Velzquez (baptized June 6, 1599, Seville, Spaind. Aug. 6, 1660, Madrid), major Spanish painter of the 17th century, and one of the greatest portraitists in the history of Western art. In 1611 in Seville, Velzquez was apprenticed to the Mannerist painter Francisco Pacheco, under whose tutelage he developed a painterly style marked by strong modeling and sharp contrasts of light and shade. His early subjects were mostly genre scenes, and he popularized a new type of composition, the bodegon, a kitchen scene with prominent still life. Velzquez was appointed court painter to the Spanish king Philip IV in Madrid in 1623 with a promise that no one else would be allowed to portray the king. Though Velzquez continued to paint other subjects, as court painter he was chiefly occupied in portraying the royal family and their entourage, and he painted many portraits of Philip during the course of his life. In Velzquez's early court portraits he was influenced by Titian, and he subsequently adopted something of the elaborate decor and richer colouring of Peter Paul Rubens; but throughout his life he retained a realistic approach to his subject matter that is characteristically Spanish. Velzquez's first journey to Italy, in 1629, marked a new phase in his lifelong pursuit of the truthful rendering of visual appearance. After his return to Spain in 1631 he entered the most fruitful period of his artistic career, producing figure paintings on historical, religious, and mythological subjects as well as court portraits. The major works of this middle period include two series of portraits of members of the royal family, the first depicting them on horseback and the second as huntsmen. Another important work is the Surrender of Breda (163435). The series of portraits of court dwarfs that Velzquez painted in the 1640s show remarkable psychological discernment and powers of characterization. During his second visit to Italy, in 164951, Velzquez painted a famous portrait of Pope Innocent X. The many court portraits he did upon his return to Spain are marked by rich colouring, a relaxed atmosphere, and a remarkably free, almost sketchy technique. The culminating masterpiece of his career is the large figurative composition Las Meninas (1656), which creates an illusion of reality never surpassed by Velzquez or any other artist of his time. Additional reading August L. Mayer, Velzquez: A Catalogue Raisonn of the Pictures and Drawings (1936), displays a well-illustrated catalog of works by and related to Velzquez. Jos Lpez-Rey, Velzquez: A Catalogue Raisonn of His Oeuvre, with an Introductory Study (1963), provides a revised and enlarged edition of Mayer's catalog, amended in light of new discoveries and of the author's own views on attribution and datinga comprehensive and fully illustrated corpus of the artist's work. Enrique Lafuente, Ferrari, Velzquez: Complete Edition (1943), contains an introductory essay followed by a critical catalog, fully illustrated, of all the paintings and drawings considered by the author to be by Velzquez. Antonio Gallego Y Burn, Varia velazquea: homenaje a Velzquez en el III centenario de su muerte, 16601960, 2 vol. (1960); and Instituto Diego Velzquez, Velzquez: homenaje en el tercer centenario de su muerte (1960), contain transcriptions of all known souce material, biographical and documentary, relating to Velzquez. A comprehensive critical bibliography of Velzquez, with analytic indexesa work of major importance for the study of the artistis Juan A. Gaya Nuo, Bibliografa crtica y antolgica de Velzquez (1963, reissued 1973).Biographies include Carl Justi, Diego Velazquez and His Times (1889; originally published in German, 2 vol., 1888), a classic monograph, out-of-date yet still an important study of the subject; Elizabeth Du Gu Trapier, Velzquez (1948), a well-documented text of the artist's life and work that includes not only most of the information brought to light since the publication of Justi's book but also a comprehensive bibliography; Madlyn Millner Kahr, Velzquez: The Art of Painting (1976), a work for the general reader; Maurice Srullaz, Velzquez (1981; originally published in French, 1966), an overview; Enriqueta Harris, Velzquez (1982); and Jonathan Brown, Velzquez: Painter and Courtier (1986).Works discussing Velzquez as artist include Barry Wind, Velzquez's Bodegones: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Spanish Genre Painting (1987), an examination of his earliest form of work; Gridley McKim-Smith, et al., Examining Velzquez (1988), a study of Velzquez's technique utilizing both traditional methods as well as X-radiography and infrared photography; and Jos Ortega Y Gasset, Velazquez, Goya, and the Dehumanization of Art, trans. from Spanish (1972), essays on art with a section devoted to Velzquez. Enriqueta Harris-Frankfort The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Major Works: Old Woman Frying Eggs (1618; National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh); Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (c. 1618; National Gallery, London); Water Seller of Seville (c. 1619; Wellington Museum, London); Adoration of the Magi (1619; Prado); Los Borrachos (The Topers) or The Triumph of Bacchus (c. 162829; Prado); The Forge of Vulcan (1630; Prado); Joseph's Bloody Coat Brought to Jacob (1630; El Escorial); Christ on the Cross (c. 1631; Prado); Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV (c. 163435; Prado); Equestrian Portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos (c. 163435; Prado); Equestrian Portrait of Olivares (c. 163435; Prado); The Surrender of Breda (163435; Prado); Prince Baltasar Carlos as Huntsman (163536; Prado); Duke of Modena (1638; Galleria e Museo Estense, Modena); Lady with a Fan (c. 163540; Wallace Collection, London); The Coronation of the Virgin (c. 164142; Prado); Philip IV at Fraga (1644; Frick Collection, New York); Mars (c. 164548; Prado); Portrait of Juan de Pareja (164950; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1650; Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome); Views of the Villa Medici, Rome (c. 1650; Prado); The Toilet of Venus, known as The Rokeby Venus (c. 1651; National Gallery, London); Queen Mariana of Austria (165253; Prado); The Infanta Margarita in a Pink Dress (165354; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna); Las Hilanderas (The Spinners) or The Fable of Arachne (c. 1655; Prado); Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour; 1656; Prado); Mercury and Argus (c. 1659; Prado); Prince Felipe Prspero (1659; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).