Diego Velazquez
born: June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660
Biography:
Born in Seville, Andalusia early on June 6, 1599, and baptized on June 6, Velázquez was the son of Juan Rodríguez de Silva (born João Rodrigues da Silva), a doctor of Portuguese Jewish descent (son of Diogo da Silva and wife Maria Rodrigues, Portuguese Jews), and Jerónima Velázquez, a member of hidalgo class, an order of minor aristocracy (it was a Spanish custom, in order to maintain a legacy of maternal inheritance, for the eldest male to adopt the name of his mother). Recent archival investigations carried out by Mendez, Ingram and others not only reject his aristocratic origins but have brought to light that he belonged to the Jewish converso lineage.[1] He was educated by his parents to fear God and, intended for a learned profession, received good training in languages and philosophy. But he showed an early gift for art; consequently, he began to study under Francisco de Herrera, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian influence of the early Seville school. Velázquez remained with him for one year. It was probably from Herrera that he learned to use brushes with long bristles.
By the early 1620s his position and reputation were assured in Seville; Velázquez's wife, married in 1618, Juana Pacheco (June 1, 1602-August 10, 1660) (daughter of Francisco Pacheco), in these years bore him two daughters—his only known family. The younger, Ignacia de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco, died in infancy, while the elder, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco (1619-1658), in due time in August 21, 1633 married Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, a painter, at the Church of Santiago in Madrid. Velázquez produced other notable works in this time. Sacred subjects are depicted in Adoración de los Reyes (1619, English: The Adoration of the Magi), and Jesús y los peregrinos de Emaús (1626, English: Christ and the Pilgrims of Emmaus), both of which begin to express his more pointed and careful realism.
Velázquez went to Madrid in the first half of April 1622, with letters of introduction to Don Juan de Fonseca, himself from Seville, who was chaplain to the King. At the request of Pacheco, Velázquez painted the portrait of the famous poet Luis de Góngora y Argote. Velázquez painted Góngora crowned with a laurel wreath, but at some unknown later date painted over it. It is possible that Velázquez stopped in Toledo on his way from Seville, on the advice of Pacheco, or back from Madrid on that of Góngora, a great admirer of El Greco, having composed a poem on the occasion of his death.
In December 1622, Rodrigo de Villandrando, the King's favorite court painter, died. Don Juan de Fonseca conveyed to Velázquez the command to come to the Court from the Count-Duke of Olivares, the powerful minister of Philip IV. He was offered 50 ducats (175 g of gold—worth about €2000 in 2005) to defray his expenses, and he was accompanied by his father-in-law. Fonseca lodged the young painter at his own home and sat for a portrait himself, which, when completed, was conveyed to the Royal palace. A portrait of the King was commissioned. On August 16, 1623, the King sat for Velázquez. Complete in one day the portrait was likely to have been no more than a head sketch, but both the King and Olivares were pleased. Olivares commanded Velázquez to move his home to Madrid, promising that no other painter would ever paint the King's portrait and all other portraits of the King would be withdrawn from circulation. In the following year, 1624, he received 300 ducats from the king to pay the cost of moving his family to Madrid, which became his home for the remainder of his life.
Through an equestrian portrait of the king, painted in 1623, Velázquez secured admission to the royal service with a salary of 20 ducats per month, besides medical attendance, lodgings and payment for the pictures he might paint. The portrait was exhibited on the steps of San Felipe and was received with enthusiasm. It is now lost. The Museo del Prado, however, has two of Velázquez's portraits of the king (nos. 1070 and 1071) in which the severity of the Seville period has disappeared and the tones are more delicate. The modeling is firm, recalling that of Antonio Mor (Anthonis Mor), the Netherlandish portrait painter of Philip II, who exercised a considerable influence on the Spanish school. In the same year the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I) arrived at the court of Spain. Records indicate that he sat for Velázquez, but the picture is now lost.
Born in Seville, Andalusia early on June 6, 1599, and baptized on June 6, Velázquez was the son of Juan Rodríguez de Silva (born João Rodrigues da Silva), a doctor of Portuguese Jewish descent (son of Diogo da Silva and wife Maria Rodrigues, Portuguese Jews), and Jerónima Velázquez, a member of hidalgo class, an order of minor aristocracy (it was a Spanish custom, in order to maintain a legacy of maternal inheritance, for the eldest male to adopt the name of his mother). Recent archival investigations carried out by Mendez, Ingram and others not only reject his aristocratic origins but have brought to light that he belonged to the Jewish converso lineage.[1] He was educated by his parents to fear God and, intended for a learned profession, received good training in languages and philosophy. But he showed an early gift for art; consequently, he began to study under Francisco de Herrera, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian influence of the early Seville school. Velázquez remained with him for one year. It was probably from Herrera that he learned to use brushes with long bristles.
By the early 1620s his position and reputation were assured in Seville; Velázquez's wife, married in 1618, Juana Pacheco (June 1, 1602-August 10, 1660) (daughter of Francisco Pacheco), in these years bore him two daughters—his only known family. The younger, Ignacia de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco, died in infancy, while the elder, Francisca de Silva Velázquez y Pacheco (1619-1658), in due time in August 21, 1633 married Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, a painter, at the Church of Santiago in Madrid. Velázquez produced other notable works in this time. Sacred subjects are depicted in Adoración de los Reyes (1619, English: The Adoration of the Magi), and Jesús y los peregrinos de Emaús (1626, English: Christ and the Pilgrims of Emmaus), both of which begin to express his more pointed and careful realism.
Velázquez went to Madrid in the first half of April 1622, with letters of introduction to Don Juan de Fonseca, himself from Seville, who was chaplain to the King. At the request of Pacheco, Velázquez painted the portrait of the famous poet Luis de Góngora y Argote. Velázquez painted Góngora crowned with a laurel wreath, but at some unknown later date painted over it. It is possible that Velázquez stopped in Toledo on his way from Seville, on the advice of Pacheco, or back from Madrid on that of Góngora, a great admirer of El Greco, having composed a poem on the occasion of his death.
In December 1622, Rodrigo de Villandrando, the King's favorite court painter, died. Don Juan de Fonseca conveyed to Velázquez the command to come to the Court from the Count-Duke of Olivares, the powerful minister of Philip IV. He was offered 50 ducats (175 g of gold—worth about €2000 in 2005) to defray his expenses, and he was accompanied by his father-in-law. Fonseca lodged the young painter at his own home and sat for a portrait himself, which, when completed, was conveyed to the Royal palace. A portrait of the King was commissioned. On August 16, 1623, the King sat for Velázquez. Complete in one day the portrait was likely to have been no more than a head sketch, but both the King and Olivares were pleased. Olivares commanded Velázquez to move his home to Madrid, promising that no other painter would ever paint the King's portrait and all other portraits of the King would be withdrawn from circulation. In the following year, 1624, he received 300 ducats from the king to pay the cost of moving his family to Madrid, which became his home for the remainder of his life.
Through an equestrian portrait of the king, painted in 1623, Velázquez secured admission to the royal service with a salary of 20 ducats per month, besides medical attendance, lodgings and payment for the pictures he might paint. The portrait was exhibited on the steps of San Felipe and was received with enthusiasm. It is now lost. The Museo del Prado, however, has two of Velázquez's portraits of the king (nos. 1070 and 1071) in which the severity of the Seville period has disappeared and the tones are more delicate. The modeling is firm, recalling that of Antonio Mor (Anthonis Mor), the Netherlandish portrait painter of Philip II, who exercised a considerable influence on the Spanish school. In the same year the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I) arrived at the court of Spain. Records indicate that he sat for Velázquez, but the picture is now lost.
painting gallery
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his work:
Besides the forty portraits of Philip by Velázquez, he painted portraits of other members of the royal family: Philip's first wife, Isabella of Bourbon, and her children, especially her eldest son, Don Baltasar Carlos, of whom there is a beautiful full-length in a private room at Buckingham Palace. Cavaliers, soldiers, churchmen, and the prominent poet Francisco de Quevedo (now at Apsley House), sat for Velázquez.