Velazquez Diego: A portrait of the legendary artist

Self portrait by Diego Velazquez

One of the leading lights of his time, Spanish painter Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (June 6, 1599-August 6, 1660), was a noted painter in the court of King Philip IV. He displayed a knack for his individualistic works of the contemporary baroque period and gained importance as a portrait artist. His paintings in Madrid include landscapes, mythological and religious subjects and scenes from common life, called genre pictures. The portraits of court notables, say the cognoscenti, rank with the portraits by Titian and Anthony Van Dyck. His famous paintings include The surrender of Breda, an equestrian portrait of Philip IV, The spinners, The maids of honour, Pope Innocent X, Christ at Emmaus and a portrait of the Infanta Maria Theresa.
His magnum opus, is of course La meninas (The maids of honour, 1656). The subject appears to be one of the infantas, Margarita. However, when one looks at the work from various viewpoints, one is unclear as to the identity of the subject: Is it the royal daughter or perhaps the painter himself? Many other questions have cropped up and the answers remain elusive as ever.
His other major work was La Venus del espejo (Venus at her mirror, 1644-1648) also known as The Rokeby Venusthe only surviving female nude by Velazquez.
Velazquez' forte of merging colour, light, pace, rhythm of line and mass in such a way that all have equal value, earned him the sobriquet of “the painter's painter,”
Velazquez's works left a lasting impression on realist and impressionist painters such as Edouard Manet. They have also been recreated by more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, as well as the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon. Picasso went so far as to recreate Las meninas in his characteristically cubic form. Likewise, Salvador Dali, in anticipation of the tercentennial of Velazuez' death, created in 1958 a work titled Velazquez painting the Infanta Margarita with the lights and shadows of his own glory. Others who have been influenced by him are Francisco de Goya, Camille Corot and James McNeill Whistler. Velazquez earned much recognition along the way. Described as “the noblest and most commanding man among the artists of the country”, his “men and women seem to breathe..his horses are full of action and his dogs of life.”
In the art scenario of that time in Spain there were essentially two patrons of art, the church and the art-loving king and court. Bartolome Esteban Murillo was the artist favoured by the church, while Velazquez was patronised by the crown. While the former toiled for a rich and powerful church, with little funds to pay for his burial, Velazquez lived and died amidst material comfort.
Velazquez' life was cut short when he was stricken with fever. Feeling that his end was near, he signed his will, appointing as his sole executors his wife Juana and a close friend Fuensalida, keeper of the royal records. He died on August 6, 1660 and was buried in the Fuensalida vault of the church of San Juan Bautista. Within eight days his wife followed him to the grave. Unfortunately, this church was destroyed by the French in 1811, so his place of internment is now unknown. Nevertheless the great artist continues to cast his shadow on the art world.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent