Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Great Velázquez



Some of his paintings, HERE. The painting above is Las Meninas, showing the little Infanta Margarita, daughter of Philip IV of Spain, surrounded by her attendants. Margarita married Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I; she died at age twenty-one. Her older sister the Infanta Maria Theresa became the Queen of Louis XIV.

The WebMuseum says of Velázquez:

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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5 comments:

Brantigny said...

The Spanish Hapsburg line was with the exception I think of this beauty a rather unhandsome lot.

This is one of my favorite paintings.

I am especially interested in the attendant to the Infanta's right.

Fortunately we have a painter who painted what he saw, as did Goya.

I shudder to think how how Monet would have painted them.

elena maria vidal said...

Velázquez has been one of my favorite artists since I was in seventh or eighth grade~his paintings are more than paintings, they are each an experience of another time and place.

Iosue Andreas Sartorius said...

Velázquez, El Greco, and Goya are probably my three favorite painters.

Anonymous said...

I also love Las Meninas....and the detail that Velasquez is wearing the cross of Santiago (St. James) on his own chest. But his crucifixion is my all time favorite image of the crucifixion. I've had the wonder of seeing it full size (man size) in the Prado.

Goya and Velasquez are wonderful masters, but do not overlook Zurburan--very evocative painting.

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, my friends, all those old Spanish painters are wonderful and so often overlooked. Murillo is another great one. I love his Madonnas. Wouldn't I enjoy going to the Prado. When I went to Spain, I never made it past the Costa Brava.