The new international encyclopaedia . id in 1623 his portraitof Fonseca found such favor with the royalfamily that he was commissioned to paint anequestrian portrait of the King. His successwas such that he was appointed Court painter,with the exclusive privilege of portraying theKing, and given a liberal pension and a studio inthe His success was insured by his bril-liant victory in a competition with the threeItalian painters in the Kings service, the subjectbeing The Expulsion of tlie Moriscos fromSpain. From now on the life of Velazquez was spentin the service of the King. Most
The new international encyclopaedia . id in 1623 his portraitof Fonseca found such favor with the royalfamily that he was commissioned to paint anequestrian portrait of the King. His successwas such that he was appointed Court painter,with the exclusive privilege of portraying theKing, and given a liberal pension and a studio inthe His success was insured by his bril-liant victory in a competition with the threeItalian painters in the Kings service, the subjectbeing The Expulsion of tlie Moriscos fromSpain. From now on the life of Velazquez was spentin the service of the King. Most of the earlyjjortraits of his great patron, Olivarez, have dis-appeared. One is preserved in the well-knownplate of Paul Pontius, with emblematic design byRubens, ami there is a full length in DorchesterHouse. The earliest surviving portrait of PhilipIV. is probably the bust in the Irado Jliiscum,which also |)ossesses the fine full-length portraitsof the King and Don Carlos, his brother. The visit of Rubens as ambassador of Isabella,. VELAZQUEZ ,CSOP, FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE PRADO MUSEUM, MADRID VELAZQUEZ. 43 VELAZQUEZ. Regent of the Nctlierlamls, to Madrid in 1628,was not witliout inlluunee upon Velazquez, thovighit did not direc-tly allect his ail. itubens liad a liighopinion of the rising Spanianl, and it wasthrough his advice and intercession with theKing lliat tlie latter obtained the coveted leaveto visit Italy. At this time (102!)) Velazquez€.\ecuted the chief genre picture of the earlyperiod, the subject of which may lietray Flemishinlluence, though this is not evident in the execu-tion. In Los Borrachos (the Topers), moreproperly entitled Bacchus, the wine god sitson a cask amidst a band of weather-beatendrinkers, crowning a soldier of the party withvine leaves. His figure is a wonderful exampleof the artists treatment of the nude, while the^.xpression and animation on tlie faces of thetopers perhaps surjjass anything else in thisparticular genre. There are curious
Size: 1149px × 2175px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyorkdoddmead
