Aesop and Menippus are first listed in the inventory of the Torre de la Parada between 1701 and 1703. Among other works, this hunting lodge had a vast cycle of mythological paintings made by Rubens an [+]
On June 5, 1625 the Dutch governor of Breda, Justinus van Nassau, surrendered the keys of that city to Ambrosio Spínola, the Genoese general commanding the Spanish tercios (a group of soldiers [+]
One of the most distinguished components of Velázquez` oeuvre is his gallery of buffoons (or, as we would generally call them in English, jesters), dwarves, and other men of amusement who enter [+]
Born in El Escorial in 1609, don Fernando was the son of Philip III and Margarita de Austria, and thus Philip IV´s brother. As a result, he held very high posts. In 1619, he was appointed cardinal and [+]
The first known reference to this work dates from 1746, when an inventory of paintings at the La Granja Palace was drawn up. There, it is attributed to Velázquez and identified as a likeness of [+]
Juan Francisco Alfonso de Pimentel Ponce de León, 10th Count and 7th Duke of Benavente (1584-1652), is portrayed more than half length with a whole host of attributes that confirm is supreme mi [+]
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Mariana of Austria (1634-1696) was the daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand III and María of Hungary. It was intended that she marry her cousin, Prince Baltasar Carlos, but following his death she [+]
The pragmatic of January 1623 that dictated a new dress code and has since been used to date what is thought to be the portrait of Pacheco can also be used as a guide for the present work, as the mode [+]
Philip IV´s sister, Maria, was born in El Escorial in 1606. As a result of her royal lineage, she was destined to become yet another pawn in the play of matrimonial alliances that the European courts [+]
In its present state the painting reveals two different phases of creation. The apparent age of the sitter and the notable similarities with his appearance in Velázquez`s portrait of the elderl [+]
Of the people with whom Velázquez must have had contact on a daily basis at the palace, many would have been high functionaries or skilled servants of the court. His own social aspirations incl [+]
This is an extraordinary example of the eventful life of many royal portraits during the Siglo de Oro, and it shows just how much those paintings, rather than immutable artworks, were objects with a r [+]
This image can be identified as that of a king and as a portrait of Philip IV on the basis of others of the monarch. In fact, nothing about the clothes or the sitter`s actions suggests his royal statu [+]
Unlike the Christ Crucified (P1161) from the convent of San Plácido, whose authorship and extraordinary merits are uncontested, the present work has produced division of opinions among historia [+]
This painting is the result of two acts carried out in different periods. First, Velázquez painted the surface occupied by the figures and the tapestry in the background. Later, in the 18th cen [+]
Documentation of payment received by Velázquez in July 1629 for an image of Bacchus painted at the king`s behest informs us of the work`s approximate date and identifies its intended recipient. [+]
In the foreground of this canvas, a figure dressed in green holds in his hands what appears to be a pack of cards and looks directly at the viewer, as if to invite us to participate in the game. He is [+]