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Diego Velázquez
(1599-1660)
Velázquez (or Velásquez), Diego
(1599-1660). Spain's greatest painter was also one of the
supreme artists of all time. A master of technique, highly individual in
style, Diego Velasquez may have had a greater influence on European art than
any other painter.
Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velasquez was born in Seville, Spain, presumably
shortly before his baptism on June 6, 1599. His father was of noble
Portuguese descent. In his teens he studied art with Francisco Pacheco, whose
daughter he married. The young Velasquez once declared, "I would rather be
the first painter of common things than second in higher art." He learned
much from studying nature. After his marriage at the age of 19, Velasquez
went to Madrid. When he was 24 he painted a portrait of Philip IV, who became
his patron.
The artist made two visits to Italy. On his first, in 1629, he copied
masterpieces in Venice and Rome. He returned to Italy 20 years later and
bought many paintings by
Titian,
Tintoretto, and
Paolo Veronese and
statuary for the king's collection.
Except for these journeys Velasquez lived in Madrid as court painter. His
paintings include landscapes, mythological and religious subjects, and scenes
from common life, called genre pictures. Most of them, however, are portraits
of court notables that rank with the portraits painted by Titian and
Anthony Van Dyck.
Duties of Velasquez royal offices also occupied his time. He was
eventually made marshal of the royal household, and as such he was
responsible for the royal quarters and for planning ceremonies.
In 1660 Velasquez had charge of his last and greatest ceremony the
wedding of the Infanta Maria Theresa to Louis XIV of France. This was a most
elaborate affair. Worn out from these labors, Velasquez contracted a fever
from which he died on August 6.
Velasquez was called the "noblest and most commanding man among the
artists of his country." He was a master realist, and no painter has
surpassed him in the ability to seize essential features and fix them on
canvas with a few broad, sure strokes. "His men and women seem to breathe,"
it has been said; "his horses are full of action and his dogs of life."
Because of Velasquez great skill in merging color, light, space, rhythm
of line, and mass in such a way that all have equal value, he was known as
"the painter's painter." Ever since he taught
Bartolomé Murillo,
Velasquez
has directly or indirectly led painters to make original contributions to the
development of art. Others who have been noticeably influenced by him are
Francisco de Goya,
Camille Corot,
Gustave Courbet,
Edouard Manet, and
James McNeill Whistler.
His famous paintings include
The Surrender of Breda, an equestrian portrait of Philip IV,
The Spinners,
The Maids of Honor,
Pope Innocent X,
Christ at Emmaus,
and a portrait of the Infanta Maria Theresa.
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