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DIEGO VELAZQUEZ Spanish 1599-1660 OOC Portrait

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
DIEGO VELAZQUEZ Spanish 1599-1660 OOC Portrait
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Oil on canvas. Featuring a portrait of girl from the Spanish royal family. Signed and attr. Diego Velazquez (Spanish, 1599-1660) on the lower margin. 80 x 60 cm (31.5 x 23.6 inches). Diego Velazquez was among the most renowned Spanish painters of the 17th century. The artist’s deft description of light and form are hallmarks of his work. “I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art,” he once said. Born Diego Rodríguez de Silva Velázquez on June 6, 1599 in Seville, Spain, he briefly studied under Francisco Herrera the Elder before becoming the apprentice of Francisco Pacheco. Under Pacheco, the young artist learned to emulate the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio. In 1622, he traveled to Madrid with the hope of gaining royal patronage, and was given a chance to paint a portrait of King Philip IV. Praised for the work by the king, Velázquez was appointed court painter, a position he would hold for the rest of his life. It was in the royal household that Velázquez first saw the works of Titian, whose paintings he profoundly admired. In 1628, Velázquez journeyed to Italy for the first time, where he studied the works of Tintoretto, Raphael, and Michelangelo. He would return to Italy later in life, producing several famed paintings, including a portrait of Pope Innocent X and The Toilet of Venus (1647–1651). Velázquez died on August 6, 1660 in Madrid, Spain. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Prado Museum in Madrid, and the National Gallery in London, among others. PROVENANCE: PROVENANCE: Southern Italian estate