Diego Velazquez 1599 1660

The Lives of Velázquez brings together two seminal early accounts of the great seventeenth-century Spanish painter (ca. 1599–1660). These texts, written by his contemporaries Francisco Pacheco and Antonio Palomino and newly translated for this volume, serve as our main sources of knowledge about this groundbreaking artist. Pacheco’s biography reveals the scale of the challenge to traditional painting presented by Velázquez’s immense talent. Palomino’s text, while precise and detailed in its narrative of the artist’s life, also tackles the aesthetic debate generated by the painter’s choice of subject matter and style. An engaging introduction by art historian Michael Jacobs situates the historical texts in the context of Spain’s Golden Age.

Meet Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, the leading light of the Spanish Golden Age and a giant of Western art history. From humble genre scenes to the ever-mysterious Las Meninas, this introductory book charts the compositional expertise, natural figuration, and masterful handling of tone that secured Velázquez's place as "the greatest...

All throughout his fruitful career, Velázquez painted the powerful just as well as the ordinary Spanish people. His body of work bears the imprint of realism worthy of the greatest Flemish masters of the period, and despite outside influences, he undeniably succeeded in developing his own artistic principles. Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) is one of the world's most famous artists. Representative of 17th-century European painting, he worked for the Spanish court and for the most important personalities, completing numerous portraits. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, passionate about the human figure, his oeuvreofhis long artistic career of more than forty yearsalso encompasses representations of daily life in the taverns of Spain. Considered the father of Spanish painting, Velázquez inspired entire generations of artists who followed him, including Picasso, Dalí, and Bacon. His mysterious painting Las Meninas, which contains the essence of his work, is still today an inexhaustible source for writing and research.

On life and works of Velazquez.