Chapter 5 - 6

06 Art History

Diego Velazquez

Diego Velazquez, considered one of the most prominent Spanish painters to have emerged from the 17th century, was also one of the best portraitists in Western art.

From the early part of his career until his later life, he underwent a process of evolution as an artist.

Nonetheless, he always preserved realism in his works.

In the first stage of his artistic career, Velazquez apprenticed under Francisco Pacheco, an artist who believed firmly in the importance of staying true to realistic form.

During this time, Velazquez began to contrast light and shade sharply, which became a hallmark of his style.

While he was Pacheco’s student, Velazquez studied proportion and perspective.

He practiced painting scenes from everyday life, and it was then that he began still-life paintings of kitchen scenes.

This kind of composition, called the bodegon, became wildly popular.

In Vieja Friendo Huevos (An Old Woman Frying Eggs), painted in 1618, he depicted a simple scene of a young boy standing next to an old woman hunched over a stove.

What stands out in this painting is the natural contours and illuminations of the subjects’ skin: the young boy’s youthful blush and depth of the old woman’s eyes and cheekbones.

Though simple in detail, the attention to shadow and lighting are suggestive of Velazquez’s characteristic style.

In the following period of his artistic career, Velazquez’s life became heavily intertwined with the court, and his artistic style changed to fit royal demands.

He won royal approval 1623 by presenting a portrait of Philip lV during a trip to Madrid.

It was then that he lived as a court, painter, creating portraits of the royal family.

Even in these portraits, one can see the realism that he liked to preserve.

Their shadows of tight and darkness left out the embellishments and distortions that usually accompany royal portraiture.

During this period, he softened the tones that he used, and the austerity of the scenes that he had painted in the earlier part of his life changed to reflect a happier tone.

He used brighter colors such as gold and deeper jewel-tones such as ruby to accent the subject.

Yet he still used his technique of contrasting light and shadow and kept figures proportionately accurate.

He depicted the royal family perhaps more honestly than most artists of his time.

In his portraiture of Philip IV, he used a darkened background to bring out the king’s royal pallor and refinement without glorifying him, keeping his stance and features natural.

The next stage of transformation came after his first visit to Italy, which resulted in a change in his painting style.

After 1631, when he returned from his trip, he took up studying the Renaissance masters.

He incorporated elements of their style into the continuation of his work as a portrait painter.

He was asked to paint a military triumph, but unlike the usual Rubenesque portrayal, he adhered to his devotion to realism.

In his painting of La Rendicion de Breda, which depicted the scene of the Dutch city of Breda being conquered by the Spanish army, the head of the Dutch army is handing the key of Breda to the leaders of the Spanish military.

Several of the soldiers in the painting appear to be looking outside of the painting, others are smirking at each other, and one is seven looking at his own fingernail, keeping the portrayal of the characters realistic and mundane.

He kept the painting topographically accurate, with some parts of the scene obscured by the remnant smoke from the battle.

The colors he chose for the scene differed from his more recent choices.

He opted for true greens, beiges, browns and pinks, and the mood that he created was significantly lighter.

His final stage of development was characterized by a style that experts now call manera abreviada, which refers to a bolder, sharper style.

His fame was culminated by a portrait of Pope innocent X in 1650.

The crimson curtain and the pope’s own costume stand out from this portrait, with the pope’s smug countenance subtly possessing its own significance.

By this time, he had truly become proficient in the art of portraiture, eloquently bringing out the expression of the subject.

In what is considered to be his greatest work, Las Meninas contains his own self-portrait as an artist in the background.

The painting is considered representative of the Baroque art movement, which saw paintings defined by grandeur and exuberance.