of the same scene in that the father welcomes his son with an embrace. To
the left, we see a child and a man bringing in the calf to be killed for the
feast. On the right are members of the family, including the brother who
stayed home, who is bringing out clothes for his sibling.
Finally, we turn to Diego de Silva Velázquez (1599–1660), who was born in
Seville but of Portuguese origin. Velázquez studied with Francisco Pacheco
in Seville from 1613 until he became an independent master in 1617. He
married Pacheco’s daughter the next year and painted in Seville until 1622.
Our ¿ rst example is his The Water Seller of Seville (c. 1620). Note the
brilliant illusionism and the deep tones and strong light-shadow contrasts of
Caravaggio and his followers in Naples and Spain. Note also the contained
emotion and quietude—a somberness beyond the subject that suggests
the sacramental.
In 1623, Velázquez moved to Madrid and became court painter. We see
Los Borrachos (The Drinkers) (c. 1628) from this early period. Velázquez
has painted Bacchus in the center; the god has come down to Earth to join
his devotees. We see one man delighted to have a “photo op” with the god.
Another is obviously inebriated, and a third kneels seriously before Bacchus.
Yet another man is being crowned with vine leaves. The ¿ gure in shadow
at the left serves the purpose of moving our eyes along a diagonal into the
space. This was not the only work in which Velázquez treated mythology,
and when he did, he treated it in a way that was unlike anyone else.
From 1629–1631, Velázquez made his ¿ rst trip to Rome with the support of
Rubens. On his return, he painted The Surrender at Breda (Las Lanzas, “The
Lances”) (c. 1634–1635). This painting is justly famous for its composition.
The viewer is on a high foreground, looking out over the battle¿ eld. We see
two central ¿ gures, Justin of Nassau handing over the keys to the city to
Ambrogio Spinola. The painting illustrates the conquest of a Dutch fortress
in 1625, but Justin of Nassau is shown being greeted by Spinola. This is not
a typical surrender. Velázquez inserted his self-portrait on the far right, to
the right of the horse’s neck. This painting is not simply a trophy of military
victory but a metaphor of moral quality in the magnanimous treatment of the