Diego Velázquez: 12 works

'Velázquez's abilities as both painter and observer make him one of the great portraitists of Western painting; this early work is among his most incisive psychological studies. Painted during Velázquez's first trip to court, this portrait may well have led to his first royal commission and swift appointment as a court painter.'

'The young man on the right is probably a self portrait of Velazquez himself.'

'In the history of western painting, besides Raphael, Titian and Rembrandt only Velázquez belongs in this club. Manet called him the "painters' painter", and Picasso painted a host of paraphrases to uncover his secret.'

'If Zurbarán, Velázquez's contemporary and fellow Andalusian, remained committed throughout his life to stark contrasts of light and shade, Velázquez did not.'

'Born and trained in Seville, Velázquez moved to Madrid, where he served King Philip IV from 1623. As court painter, his main responsibility was to produce portraits of the royal family and their circle.'

'At the same time it is one of the very few portraits that can be identified as a work by Velázquez, which does not portray a member of the royal family, a minister, a court fool or dwarf, who inhabited the royal palace.'

'The original hung in the Salón de Reinos in the Buen Retiro palace in Madrid, between two great equestrian portraits of the sitter's parents, King Philip IV and Queen Isobel, also by Velázquez.'

'In 1644 Velázquez accompanied the King on a campaign to Catalonia, where the Spanish army led a successful siege of Lérida against the French.'

'Is this the work of famed Spanish artist Diego Velázquez?'

'The Dulwich portrait of Philip IV is a version of an original of 1644, now in the Frick Collection, New York, which was painted by Velázquez in a makeshift studio in Catalonia while the King prepared for battle against the French. This version may have been painted by Juan Bautista del Mazo, Velázquez's son-in-law.'