The epiphany diego velazquez biography
Diego Velazquez Biography
- Full Name:
- Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez
- Short Name:
- Velázquez
- Date of Birth:
- 06 Jun 1599
- Date of Death:
- 06 Aug 1660
- Focus:
- Paintings
- Mediums:
- Oil, Other
- Subjects:
- Figure, Scenery
- Art Movement:
Baroque
- Hometown:
Seville, Spain
The biography of Diego Velázquez is the story of an artist on a quest for fame, glory, and power. Born into a middle class family but raised with illusions of grandeur, Velázquez's life was devoted not only to becoming the best painter in Spain, but to climbing the social ladder up to the giddiest of heights.
Velázquez was born in Seville to father Juan Rodriquez de Silva, a lawyer of Portuguese-Jewish descent, and mother Jerónima Velázquez, a member of the hidalgo class (a minor form of aristocracy).
The Velázquez family was in the same situation as most of Spanish society: although the family had illusions of grandeur and pretentions to nobility, their tainted, Jewish ancestry and minor social status meant that they were nothing more than middle-class dreamers.
The very fact that they would allow their oldest son to pursue as lowly a profession as painting speaks to the fact that the family was not as noble as they would have the rest of Spain believe.
Nonetheless, the family was at least wealthy enough to offer Velázquez a most exceptional academic education in the arts and sciences, something rare in a nation with only twenty percent literacy. One can imagine, then, that from an early age, Velázquez was instilled with a more than elevated sense of self-worth and entitlement.
This self-pride would only become heightened once the eleven-year-old boy went to study with his enormously influential (though artistically mediocre) painter Francisco Pacheco in 1610, after leaving the workshop of his first teacher, the hot-headed Francisco de Herrera, who taught Velázquez little more than a predilection for long-bristled brushes and how to duck an angry fist.
Pacheco, on the o
Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez: Life Story
Hear the name 'Velázquez' and you know the conversation must centre around the finest figures in the Spanish art world. Since his death four centuries ago, Diego Velázquez has not faded from our memories and his work is visited daily in the world's most respected museums, as well as gracing the front of many a greeting card and poster. So what was the story behind this powerful artistic figure who lives on today as one of the greats of the Spanish Baroque?
Diego Velázquez was born in 1599 to a noble Sevillian family. At the tender age of 11 he began work as an apprentice to famous Mannerist painter, Pacheco, who could be credited for Velázquez's early development of his artistic skills. Once he finished his apprenticeship in 1615 he began to produce interesting pieces of naturalist work in which he focussed on portrait, still lifes and religious works. Three years later he married Pacheco's daughter, Juana de Pacheco and in the three years that followed they had two daughters, however, only one survived into adulthood.
In 1623, aged 24 Diego Velázquez moved to Madrid with an aim to further his artistic career and it wasn't long before he found great success. His first royal commission was a portrait of the young king Philip IV of Spain in 1629 which was so well received that he was immediately appointed as Court Painter. Velázquez continued to 'wow' the royals with many beautifully finished portraits as well as moving into an interesting realm of mythological paintings that fuse together realism and fantasy, blurring the boundaries and transporting the viewer to his artistic world.
Diego Velázquez took a couple of years to travel Italy and study Italian art during which time his work became more heavily influenced by great masters like Tintoretto and Titian. His return to Madrid signalled his most dramatic period and he produced some of his most cel 1619 Baroque painting by Diego Velázquez The Adoration of the Magi is a 1619 Baroque painting by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez now held in the Museo del Prado. It shows three kings presenting gifts to the Christ child: Melchior, who kneels in the foreground; Balthazar, who stands behind him wearing a red cape and a lace collar; and Caspar, who appears between the other two. An unidentified young man who stands behind Balthazar is looking on. Kneeling near the Virgin's left shoulder is Saint Joseph. The size and format of the painting indicate that it was made for an altarpiece. Carl Justi praised the Adoration of the Magi as being "distinguished by great power of colouring and chiaroscuro." The earliest record of this painting is from about 1764, when it was in the Jesuit Novitiate of San Luis, Seville.Adoration of the Magi (Velázquez)
The Adoration of the Magi Artist Diego Velázquez Year 1619 Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 204 cm × 126.5 cm (80 in × 49.8 in) Location Museo del Prado, Madrid History
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