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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).

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