Favorite Artists 4 - Velazquez

In our western tradition, there are artists who have become the bedrock. Today, hundreds of years after their passing, a handful are considered art's ultimate practitioners. Names like Titian, Botticelli, Durer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals compete with later ones like Chardin and Goya. If you're a painter of the real world, no doubt at least some of those names have inspired you too.

For me, one of the most inspiring painters remains Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez, the great Spaniard. Velazquez has been and remains an interesting figure to me for many reasons besides his mastery of oil painting. Although now an undisputed master, until his later years he was little-known outside his native country owing to his employment by the Spanish royal court. Initially a painter in the southern city of Sevilla, where he was born, by his mid-twenties he was a painter to Felipe IV, and remained with the Spanish court until his death in 1660. During that time he produced a staggering array of truly memorable paintings, crowned by an indisputable masterpiece that is (for me) one of fewer than a half-dozen works standing out above all others--Las Meninas. But before those masterpieces he was submerged in the Court and his works little-seen by the world at large.

I first encountered Velazquez in a book by James Michener. I had ever seen Velazquez but Michener's great survey "Iberia," gave me a tantalizing introduction to the The Prado Museum and the great painter. The Prado in Madrid literally owns rooms full of masterpieces by Velazquez. Military duty eventually took me to Spain several times, where I visited the Prado several times. To say that it was a life-altering series of visits would be to downplay their importance to my artistic life.

The Prado Museum was my initial adult introduction to truly magnificent paintings. At the time I had yet to visit any of the other great museums of the world, but in those days the Prado seemed like more than enough. The Prado contains works by important masters from vand der Weyden to Durer to Bosch to great Spanish painters. But it was the works of Velazquez that gave me the most pleasure both visually and intellectually. These were stupendous paintings--history paintings, mythology, portraits in abundance, and the occasional quirky piece. as well.

"The Forge of Vulcan," 1630

One of my favorites from Velazquez' early period is The Forge of Vulcan, completed in 1630 during the first of Velazquez' two stays in Italy. It shows Vulcan at his forge, making armor for the god of war, Mars. Apollo has appeared to tell of the goddess Venus (Vulcan's wife) committing adultery with Mars. The rather large painting shows a thirty-year old painter who has become an indisputable master of perspective, space, and composition. It stopped me and made me stare the first time I saw it in the Prado. There was life and movement, light seemingly behind the canvas.

"Los Borrachos," 1629

Moreover, this particular painting was only one of several jaw-dropping examples in adjoining rooms, many of which display the maestro's ability at multi-figure composition. Paintings like "Los Borrachos," also known as"The Triumph of Bacchus," painted around the same time as the Vulcan, display his youthful mastery. It is no wonder that he was taken on by the Spanish king.

"Las Meninas," 1656

In those days, as now, the jewel of the collection is "Las Meninas," painted in the very last years of the artist's life. Today the painting is displayed in a large salon but forty or so years ago it occupied its own small room facing a similar-sized mirror. The painting and the museum were less famous then, and I had many minutes to stand in utter awe of the work. In it, the Infanta (princess) Margarita and her ladies (Las Meninas), chaperone and bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog face us, the viewers. The room we regard is large, dark, and deep. In the far distance a man (the chamberlain) looks back to us from an open, lighted doorway. To the left is a large canvas, and behind it and to the left of the ladies is Velazquez himself, occupied in painting. For me it was only when I noticed the two figures mirrored on the distant wall that the painting snapped into clarity. For we the viewers are the subjects of the artist's intense gaze. He is painting our portraits, for we are in the place of the King, Felipe IV, and his wife Mariana while the others look on or interact. This is a portrait sitting and the princess is here to visit us. Given that he painted many portraits of the royals, the idea makes enormous sense and is composed cleverly. The mental gymnastics and artistic mastery shown by Velazquez were completely staggering to me. Without question, this for me is his masterpiece.

"Portrait of Juan de Pareja," 1650

Although the Prado is the top place to see his work, when writing about Velazquez I can't omit another favorite painting of mine, the very famous portrait "Juan de Pareja," painted in 1650 during Velazquez' second visit to Rome. If he had only painted this portrait he would be well-remembered today. Happily, this painting is part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In the portrait Velazquez presents us an image of his Moorish slave-assistant with startling versimilitude. When it went on view in Rome that year, one writer said something to the effect at the time that everything else was painting but this was truth. That comment still seems accurate to me three and a half centuries later. If the essence of portraiture is to capture the person not their surface clearly Velazquez understood his sitter. Pareja is a swarthy fellow whose eyes and expression show his dignity and intelligence. According to at least some accounts, this work was actually a study; Velazquez was preparing to paint another masterpiece, "Pope Innocent X" which dates from later in the year.

"Portrait of Pope Innocent X," 1650

Both are wonderful portraits but it is the Pareja that most engages me most. The main reason I love the Juan Pareja is because of Velazquez' mastery of a very limited palette. In the Pareja the range of paints seems to be lead white, an earth red, lead-tin yellow, and black. You can mix every color in the painting with those four. Incidentally, the Pope himself was struck by how real his portrait looked and ordered it taken away.

For anyone not familiar with Velazquez, a visit to the Met in New York will at least let you see the Pareja. For the largest selection of his work, though, visit Madrid and spend at least a day studying at The Prado Museum.

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