Aged 24, he moved to Madrid as court painter to Felipe
IV. Painting slowly, meticulously, Velázquez normalised
the royal court, turning Spanish art away from the
mysticism and rather rigid idealism it was used to.By the time Velázquez came to paint Pope Innocent X in
1650, he’d moved on from the photo-like realism of his
early work, expanding his expressive style. The Pope
liked the portrait, despite Velázquez’ bold rendering of
a withering pontifical stare. A year later, Velázquez
painted La Venus del espejo(also known as The Rokeby
Venus), radical as a nude in Spanish Baroque art but
more profound in its composition: the model with her
back to the painter, her blurred face reflected in a mirror.
Then came Velázquez’ masterpiece. At first glance Las
Meninas(1656) depicts the King’s daughter, Margarita,
attended by maids, a compliant mastiff and one of the
royal court’s dwarfs. But there too is Velázquez himself,
brush in hand. Look a bit closer and you also see what
could be the reflection of the King and Queen at the
rear of the painting, suggesting we see what they do,
as if sitting for a portrait. Up close the large painting –
over three metres high – descends into a muddle of
brushstrokes. Velázquez apparently used long-handled
brushes to keep his distance from the canvas, achieving
that sublime expressive style.Baroque masters: the Seville school
In Seville, rich with its New World connections,
Baroque Spanish art found a hub. Artists took up the
naturalist leanings of Ribera and co, led initially by
Francisco Pacheco and Francisco Herrera. The latter
pushed boundaries with aggressive brushstrokes,
creating rich expression in the likes of San José con el
niño Jesús(1645). However, Francisco de Zurbarán is
usually considered Seville’s star performer. He painted119- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Red cross code
The red Cross of Saint
James on Velázquez’
chest in Las Meninas
was probably added
some years after the
work was completed.
The artist was only
inducted into the cross-
sporting Knights of
Santiago a year before
his death in 1660, three
years after the painting
was finished. One story,
probably apocryphal,
claims that Felipe IV
himself daubed the cross
on the painting.Mary and Venus
Velázquez’ La Venus del
espejohad been at home
in the National Gallery,
London, for eight years in
1914 when suffragette
Mary Richardson slashed
the painting seven times
with a small axe. She
hoped to draw attention
to the internment of
Emmeline Pankhurst,
then on hunger strike
in Holloway prison.
Richardson later added
that she disliked the way
men gawped at the
famous nude. A Times
report on the incident
noted with impressive
insight that a constable
trying to stop the attack
was “retarded somewhat
by the polished and
slippery floor.”v4 SPAIN BOOK 27/3/08 09:48 Page 119