Diego Velázquez

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What is everyone looking at in Las Meninas?

Velázquez, Diego: Philip III on Horseback

Diego Velázquez: Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Paul the Hermit

Velázquez, Diego: portrait of Juan de Pareja

Góngora, oil painting by Velázquez; in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Infanta Margarita, oil painting by Diego Velázquez, 1660; in the Prado, Madrid. 2.2 × 1.5 m.

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Diego Velázquez summary

Diego Velázquez

Q: Why is Diego Velázquez important?

Diego Velázquez was one of the most important Spanish painters of the 17th century, a giant of Western art. He had a keen eye and a prodigious facility with the brush. His works often show strong modeling and sharp contrasts of light, resembling the dramatic lighting technique called tenebrism .

Q: What is Diego Velázquez famous for?

As Philip IV ’s court painter, Diego Velázquez painted many royal portraits, notably Las meninas (1656). Yet he was also known for popularizing the bodegón , or kitchen scene, in such early works as An Old Woman Cooking Eggs (1618). Other famous pieces include his portraits of Pope Innocent X ( c. 1650) and Juan de Pareja (1650).

Q: What was Diego Velázquez’s family like?

Diego Velázquez was the eldest child of João Rodrigues da Silva, a lawyer, and Jerónima Velázquez. Toward the end of his apprenticeship with Francisco Pacheco, Velázquez married his master’s daughter, Juana. They had two daughters.

Q: How was Diego Velázquez educated?

Diego Velázquez first studied under Francisco Herrera the Elder, and then he was apprenticed to Francisco Pacheco for about six years. When Philip IV came to the throne in 1621, Velázquez sought to obtain royal patronage. He finally won it in 1623, becoming the only painter allowed to paint the king.

Q: How did Diego Velázquez die?

Velázquez’s last activity was to accompany the king and court to the French border, in the spring of 1660, to arrange the decoration of the Spanish pavilion for the marriage of the infanta María Teresa and Louis XIV . Shortly after his return to Madrid, he fell ill, and he died on August 6.

Spanish painter

Also known as: Diego Rodríguez de Silva Velázquez

Written by Enriqueta Harris-Frankfort

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Quick Facts

In full:: Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

Baptized:: June 6, 1599, Sevilla, Spain

Died:: August 6, 1660, Madrid

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Why is Diego Velázquez important?

What is Diego Velázquez famous for?

What was Diego Velázquez’s family like?

How was Diego Velázquez educated?

How did Diego Velázquez die?

Diego Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599, Sevilla, Spain—died August 6, 1660, Madrid) was the most important Spanish painter of the 17th century, a giant of Western art. Velázquez 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 ...(100 of 3093 words)

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