bornemania.com - The Slides : Velazquez

 

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Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez (1599-1660)

     "The artist often extolled as the greatest Spanish painter of the age is Diego Velazquez.  Velazquez, like many other Spanish artists, produced religious pictures, but he is justifiably renowned for the work he painted for his major patron, King Philip IV.  Trained in Seville, Velazquez was quite young when he came to the attention of Philip IV.  The king was struck by the immense talent of Velazquez and named him to the position of court painter.  With the exception of two extended trips to Italy and a few excursions, Velazquez remained in Madrid for the rest of his life.  His close relationship with Philip IV and his high office as marshal of the palace gave him prestige and a rare opportunity to fulfill the promise of his genius with a variety of artistic assignments."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 743

 



 

Crucifixion

    

Las Meninas (The Maids in Waiting)



     "After an extended visit to Rome from 1648 to 1651, Velazquez returned to Spain and painted his greatest masterpiece, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor).  In it Velazquez showed his mastery of both form and content.  The painter represented himself in the studio standing before a very large canvas, on which he may be painting this very same picture or, perhaps, the portraits of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana, whose reflections appear in the mirror on the far wall.  The young Infanta (princess) Margarita appears in the foreground with her two maids-in-waiting, her favorite dwarfs, and a large dog.  In the middle ground are a woman in widow's attire and a male escort; in the background a gentleman is framed in a brightly lit open doorway. ... [A] duality of theme exists in the Velazquez painting.  It is both an informal family group portrait, seemingly casually arranged and naturalistic, and it is a genre painting - "A Visit to the Artist's Studio" would be an equally apt title.  The room represented in the painting was in the palace of the Alcazar in Madrid.  After the death of Prince Baltasar Carlos in 1646, Philip IV ordered part of the prince's chambers converted into a studio for Velazquez."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, pp. 744 - 746

 

   **** insert detail of Las Meninas here ****

    "In the Baroque period, when artists took Leonardo's dictum that "the mirror is our master" very seriously, it is not surprising to find mirrors and primitive camera-like devices used to achieve optimum visual fidelity in paintings.  Las Meninas is a pictoral summary and a commentary on the essential mystery of the visual world, as well as on the ambiguity that results when different states or levels interact or are juxtaposed."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 746

 

The Drunkards / The Triumph of Bacchus

     "The contrast of lights and darks, along with the plebian nature of the figures, reveal the influence of Caravaggio, whose work Velazquez had studied."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 743