On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01194
- Author
- Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y (Spanish)
- Title
- Juan Martínez Montañés
- Chronology
- 1635-1636
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 109 cm x 88 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- No
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Juan Martínez Motañés (1558-1649)
was one of the most important
Andalusian sculptors and a great
friend of Velasquez's father-in-law
and teacher, Francisco Pacheco
(1564-1644).
Dressed in black, with a starched
white collar, the sculptor is shown
modeling a wax or clay bust of
Felipe IV (1605-1665) that was to
be sent, along with a painting by
Velasquez, to the Italian, Pietro
Tacca (1577-1640) as a model for
his bronze sculpture of the
Monarch, which is now in Madrid's
Plaza de Oriente.
His gaze, directed at the spectator
rather than at the royal bust, is a
defense of the intellectual nature
of sculpting. This is an
allegorical device Velasquez would
repeat in his self-portrait in Las
Meninas (P1174).
