Interesting Art Stories: 78. Portrait of Juan de Pareja, Diego Velázquez

 

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Currently, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 78th story is the “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez.

The “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez of his assistant, Juan de Pareja, a prominent painter, who was enslaved and owned by Velázquez when the painting was completed. Velázquez painted this portrait in Rome during traveling in Italy in 1650, which is the earliest known portrait of a Spanish man of African descent.

Self-portrait, Diego Velázquez (c.1640)

It was also the first painting to sell for more than £1 million, and when the Metropolitan Museum of Art, currently possessing the painting, purchased it in 1970, they considered it "one of the most important collections in the history of the Museum."

In 1649, Diego Velázquez, court painter of Philip IV of Spain, took Juan de Pareja, a slave who worked as his assistant in the artist's studio, when he was sent to Rome to purchase artworks for the Alcázar Palace. 

Portrait of Philip IV in Fraga, Diego
Velázquez (c.1644)

During his stay in Rome, Velázquez painted an oil painting of Juan de Pareja, which was displayed in a large-scale painting exhibition at the Pantheon on March 19, 1650. In his studio, Velázquez painted the “Portrait of Juan de Pareja”, a Morisco from the city of Antequera, in southern Spain, as an exercise for the official portrait of Pope Innocent X.

Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Diego
Velázquez (c.1650)

However, the Pope placed demanding orders in both color and composition, and Velázquez, who painted a portrait from life, had to work quickly, capturing the essence of Innocent X. Juan de Pareja was freed by Velázquez in 1654.

For some examples of the painting's impact on popular culture, this portrait inspired the 1965 novel "I, Juan de Pareja” by American writer Elizabeth Borton de Treviño.

"I, Juan de Pareja", Elizabeth Borton de
Treviño (1965)

This painting was reinterpreted by surrealist painter Salvador Dalí in "Portrait of Juan de Pareja, the Assistant to Velázquez" (1960), which is now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Portrait of Juan de Pareja, the Assistant to Velázquez,
Salvador Dali (1960)

A central theme of an American playwright Ayad Akhtar's 2012 play, “Disgraced”, is a painting of the protagonist, a South Asian Muslim man, painted in the style of the “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by his white wife.

Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar (2012)

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 60. Diego Velázquez, ACJ Art Academy

 

 

Born: June 6, 1599; Seville, Spain

Died: August 6, 1660; Madrid, Spain

Nationality: Spanish

Art Movement: Baroque

Field: painting

Influenced by: Caravaggio, Titian, Antonis Mor, Alonso Sánchez Coello

Influenced on: Francis Bacon, Edouard Manet, Francisco Goya, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Salvador Dalí, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, Juan Carreño de Miranda

Teachers: Francisco Pacheco, Francisco Herrera the Elder

Friends/Co-workers: Peter Paul Rubens

Family/Relatives: Francisco Pacheco

Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter born on June 6, 1599 (baptized) and died on August 6, 1660. 

Birthplace of Velázquez, Seville

He was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and of the Spanish Golden Age.

Philip IV of Spain

 

He began to paint in a tenebrist style, using the intense contrasts of light and dark, and after that developed a more liberal method characterized by bold brushwork. 

Martyrdom of St Andrew, an example of
Tenebrism, Jusepe de Ribera (1628)

In addition to numerous paintings depicting scenes of historical and cultural significance, he also painted portraits of the Spanish royal family and commoners, which was culminated in his masterpiece "Las Meninas (1656)." 

Las Meninas, Diego Velázquez (1656)

Velázquez's works became a model for 19th century realist and impressionist painters. In the 20th century, artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Francis Bacon paid homage to Velázquez by re-interpreting some of his most iconic paintings.

Las Meninas, Pablo Picasso (1957)

Velázquez Painting the Infanta Margarita
With the Lights and Shadows of His Own
Glory, Salvador Dalí (1958)

Study after Velázquez's Portrait of
Pope Innocent X, Francis Bacon (1953)

Famous Works (Diego Velázquez)

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