Diego Velázquez

Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) was a Spanish painter and leading figure of the Spanish Golden Age, celebrated for court portraits and the complex composition of Las Meninas.

Las Meninas: A 1656 painting by Velázquez depicting the Infanta Margarita and her attendants in the royal palace. Its layered viewpoints and reflection of the king and queen make it his best-known painting.
Seville: A city in southwestern Spain that was a major cultural and commercial center in the early modern period. Velázquez began his career there amid a thriving market for religious and genre painting.
Alla prima: A painting technique in which wet paint is applied directly over wet paint, often completing a passage in one sitting. Velázquez's economical, direct brushwork often creates the impression of forms captured in a single pass.
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez: The full name of the Spanish painter commonly known as Diego Velázquez. His name appears in records and scholarship under both the shorter and full forms.
Velázquez and modern painting: The influence of Velázquez's painting on artists and debates in nineteenth- and twentieth-century art. Manet and other painters treated his handling of paint as a model for modern practice.
The Surrender of Breda: A 1635 painting by Velázquez showing the Dutch commander Justinus van Nassau surrendering Breda to Ambrogio Spinola. This history painting turns a Spanish military victory into a scene of restrained human encounter.
Francisco Pacheco: A Spanish painter, theorist, and teacher who trained Velázquez in Seville. Pacheco's workshop gave Velázquez his early artistic training and access to influential patrons.
Chiaroscuro: The use of strong contrasts between light and dark to model forms and create spatial effects. Controlled light and shadow give his figures volume without sacrificing atmospheric subtlety.
Pope Innocent X: Pope from 1644 to 1655, portrayed by Velázquez during the painter's second visit to Rome. The portrait's forceful likeness testifies to Velázquez's standing beyond the Spanish court.
Las Meninas (Picasso series): A series of paintings Pablo Picasso made in 1957 by reinterpreting Velázquez's Las Meninas. Picasso's variations demonstrate how the original composition continued to invite radical reinterpretation.

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