Dear friends,
I am happy to at last feature in this forum Diego Velazquez, the most important Spanish painter of the 17th century and a giant of Western art. And I am not exaggerating in saying it. Universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest artists, Velazquez is also recognized as the chief forerunner of 19th-century French Impressionism.
In effect, if from the very start of his formation he evidenced a remarkable power of observation in portraying both living models and still life, later on, stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting, and thanks to the brilliant diversity of brushstrokes and subtle harmonies of color with which he "achieved effects of form and texture, space, light and atmosphere," he would create masterpieces of visual impression unique in his time. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
The principal source of information about Velázquez’s 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.
A very notable particularity of Diego Velazquez's works is their extraordinary quality, which knows virtually no exceptions. However, most popular among them are Los Borrachos (The Feast of Bacchus), The Dwarf Sebastian de Morra, Christ on the Cross, The Forge of Vulcan, The Surrender of Breda, The Needlewoman, Venus at Her Mirror, Pablo de Valladolid, Las Hilanderas (The Spinners) and, of course, Las Meninas (Maids of Honor) (also known as 'La Familia de Felipe IV').
Note: This thread is dedicated to my long-standing English friend Roger Macdivitt, himself an artist and the creator of several art forums here in Adland.
GREAT MASTERS OF PAINTING -
DIEGO VELAZQUEZ
(click on image to enlarge)
Las Meninas (1)
By Diego Velazquez
(born 1599 in Seville, Andalusia, Spain
died 1660 in Madrid, Spain)
Technical data (2)
Las Meninas
or 'La Familia de Felipe IV'
Oil on canvas, 318 cm × 276 cm
(125.2 in × 108.7 in)
painted 1656
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Profile (3)
Spanish painter Diego Velázquez was born circa June 6, 1599, in Seville, Spain. Although his early paintings were religious-themed, he became renowned for his realistic, complex portraits as a member of King Philip IV's court. In his later years, the Spanish master produced a renowned portrait of Pope Innocent X and the famed "Las Meninas." He died on August 6, 1660, in Madrid.
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.