Diego Velazquez (DYAY goe vuh LASS kess) was born in
Seville in
the country of Spain. When he was about thirteen years old he was
apprenticed to a painter, Francisco Herrera, but the man was such a
tyrant Diego only stayed with him for a year. He next went as an
apprentice to Francisco Pacheco who was very kind and helpful to him.
He worked for him five years, then married Pacheco's daughter, Juana,
who gave him two daughters.
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With his family and his father-in-law, Pacheco, he
visited Madrid where
he was asked to paint the portrait of King Philip IV. The Spanish king
was so pleased, he asked Velazquez to move to Madrid with his family
and work exclusively for the royal family. For the next forty years he
and his family lived with the king. Even his mother and father lived
with them. He painted at least 20 pictures of the king in all kinds of
clothing.
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Velazquez also was in charge of buying things for the
royal family. He
bought art work and furniture. He was in charge of planning and
decorating for social events. He helped the king keep the household
running smoothly. The king was so appreciative that he made him a
Knight of the Order of Santiago. This was a very high honor for a
nobleman in Spain.
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Our featured work in this lesson has been named
Las Meninas.
The "meninas" were the young daughters of noblemen's families who
waited on the young princess who was called an "infanta". The young
girl is serving the princess something in a cup. The artist with the
brush in his hand is, of course, Velazquez. If you look at the
reflection in the mirror, you can see the king and queen who are
apparently posing while the artist paints their picture. (This is
explained very well in the book "A Weekend with Velazquez" shown
below.)
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Velazquez painted several pictures of dwarfs such as
the figures you
see at the right hand side of the picture. These were the court jesters
who entertained the king and his family.
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Another of his famous paintings is called The Lances
which depicts the defeated Dutch general handing over the key to his
city, Breda, to General Spinola who was the Spanish army general. The
lances you see sticking up in the background indicate there is a large
army gathered there.
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In 1660 the king's daughter married King Louis XIV of
France.
Velazquez made a trip to northern Spain to make preparations for the
marriage of Maria Teresa and the king of France. The artist became ill
and died a few days after returning to the royal palace. He was 61
years old.
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