Diego Velazquez. Self-portrait, 1623. �ARCHIVO

ICONOGRAFICO, S.A./CORBIS

Rennert, Hugo Albert. The Life of Lope de Vega (1562–1635). New York, 1937.

JODI CAMPBELL

VELAZQUEZ, DIEGO (Diego Rodrıguezde Silva y Velazquez; 1599–1660), the most impor-tant artist of the Spanish Golden Age. The son ofparents of the lower nobility, Velazquez was born inSeville, where he lived until he was twenty-four.Between 1610 and 1616, he studied with FranciscoPacheco (1564–1654), the leading painter of thecity. In 1618, he married Pacheco’s daughter,Juana. Although profoundly influenced byPacheco’s commitment to the ideal of the learnedpainter, he did not imitate his master’s dry, Italian-ate style.

His early genre scenes, including An OldWoman Cooking Eggs (1618, National Gallery ofScotland, Edinburgh) and Waterseller (1619, Wel-

lington Museum, London), constitute the first co-herent group of secular figural paintings by a Span-ish artist. These works probably were influenced bypictures of religious subjects with elaborate still lifedetails by Flemish and north Italian artists such asPieter Aertsen (c. 1508/09–1575) and VincezoCampi (1536–1591). However, in contrast to theseprototypes, Velazquez reduced the scenes to theiressentials and focused upon a few naturalisticallyrendered figures and objects, strongly illuminatedagainst a neutral background. The quiet dignity ofthe figures, and the monumental nature of the com-positions, endow these images with a sense of tran-scendent importance.

In 1623, aided by courtiers from Seville, heobtained the opportunity to execute a portrait ofPhilip IV (ruled 1621–1665), which he revised afew years later (1623–1626, Museo del Prado, Ma-drid). Velazquez avoided the appearance of pompso typical of baroque court portraiture of the time.The elegant pose, aloof gaze, and smooth, evenillumination suffice to indicate the dignity of a king.Philip immediately appointed Velazquez royalpainter; during subsequent decades, the two devel-oped a close friendship, unprecedented between anartist and a Spanish monarch.

Interaction with Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) during Rubens’s visit to Madrid in 1628–1629 decisively influenced the young artist, whosought to emulate the example of the painter-court-ier. Rubens stimulated Velazquez’s interest in theroyal collection of Venetian paintings and encour-aged him to expand his range of themes.Velazquez’s first history painting, The Feast ofBacchus (1629, Museo del Prado, Madrid), intro-duced an unexpected melancholy note into the pop-ular mythological subject. The beggar, seeking almsfrom the peasants gathered around Bacchus, evokesthe transience of the pleasure of wine. Despite itsoriginality, the uncertain definition of space and theovercrowded composition reveal artistic deficien-cies.

To give him the opportunity to improve hisskills, Philip sent Velazquez to Italy for over a year(1629–1630). In Rome, he met leading artists andstudied ancient and Renaissance works. The Forge ofVulcan (1630, Museo del Prado, Madrid) demon-strated mastery of fundamental qualities of the Ital-

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Diego Velazquez. Las Meninas (The Family of Philip IV). �ERICH LESSING/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.

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ian classical tradition, including accurate anatomy,dramatic expressions and gestures, and spatial per-spective. Also in Rome, he produced two views ofthe gardens of the Villa Medici (both 1630, Museodel Prado, Madrid), among the first Europeanpaintings to have been created directly from nature.Superimposing ‘‘broken’’ brushstrokes over a re-flective lead-white ground, he infused these seem-ingly casual images with a sense of atmosphere.

Returning to Madrid in 1631, Velazquez beganthe most productive decade of his career. By mid-decade, he had devised a highly original method ofcreating optical effects through the application ofshort, thick strokes of endlessly varied shapes andsizes. Thus, for example, when viewed from a dis-tance, the jumbled brushwork covering the king’sgarments in Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver(1635, National Gallery, London) becomes re-solved into a convincing record of the appearance ofembroidered fabric. Although enlivened by freehandling of paint and a brighter range of colors, thelater royal portraits retain the directness and natu-ralness of his first works at court.

Throughout the 1630s, he supervised impor-tant decorative projects at royal palaces. For theHall of Realms in the Buen Retiro, Madrid, hedevised a coherent program of battle paintings,mythological images, and portraits. For this series,he produced the Surrender of Breda (1635, Museodel Prado, Madrid), the masterpiece of the period.By depicting the Spanish general with his arm uponthe shoulder of the defeated Dutch leader, he visual-ized the ideal of mercy in victory, treated in severalcontemporary works by the court playwright PedroCalderon de la Barca (1600–1681). Velazquezcarefully studied portraits, battle plans, and otherdocumentation in order to endow this imaginaryconception of the event with an aura of authenticity.His paintings for the Torre de la Parada, a huntinglodge near Madrid, included two sympathetic andpsychologically insightful portraits of dwarfs, Fran-cisco Lezcano and Diego de Aceda (both 1636–1640, Museo del Prado, Madrid). Also created forthe Torre, Mars (1640, Museo del Prado, Madrid)wittily depicted the ancient god of war contemplat-ing his frustrations in love.

In the last two decades of his career, Velazquezreduced the scope (though not the quality) of his

artistic production as he devoted himself to personalservice to the king. His Venus and Cupid (c. 1648,National Gallery, London) is one of the few femalenudes by a Spanish artist of the early modern era.The sensual pose, provocative use of the mirrorimage, and rich, luminous colors contribute to theerotic allure of this image. Between 1649 and 1651,Velazquez traveled in Italy to purchase art for theroyal collection. His Innocent X (1649–1650,Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome) expressed the in-tense psychological energy of the aging pontiff. Atthe 1650 exhibition of Congregazione dei Virtuosiin Rome, he exhibited the recently completed Juande Pareja (1650, Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York). Utilizing compositional formulae asso-ciated with aristocratic portraiture, he emphasizedthe dignity of his Moorish servant.

The exceptionally large Las meninas (1656;Maids of honor, Museo del Prado, Madrid) is re-garded as the quintessential expression of his artisticaspirations. Velazquez depicted himself standingconfidently at his easel, in the company of PrincessMargarita and her attendants. Reflected in the mir-ror on the back wall are the king and queen, whosevisit to his studio signifies royal approval of his art.

Intrigued by Las meninas, Pablo Picasso(1881–1973) created forty-four variations upon itin 1957 (all in Museo Picasso, Barcelona). EdouardManet (1832–1883) is among the many othermodernist artists who found inspiration inVelazquez’s works.

See also Calderon de la Barca, Pedro; Philip IV (Spain);Rubens, Peter Paul; Spain, Art in; Titian.

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Brown, Jonathan. Velazquez: Painter and Courtier. NewHaven and London, 1986. A vividly written and exten-sively illustrated study of all phases of the artist’s career.

Brown, Jonathan, and John H. Elliott. A Palace for a King:The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV. New Havenand London, 1980. This comprehensive study of amajor decorative project examines Velazquez’s positionat court.

Domınguez Ortiz, Antonio, ed. Velazquez. Exh. cat. NewYork, 1989. This catalogue of the exhibition held1989–1990 in New York and Madrid includes docu-mentation on important works from all phases of theartist’s career.

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Lopez-Rey, Jose. Velazquez: A Catalogue Raisonne of HisOeuvre. London, 1963. A useful catalogue of the artist’sentire production.

RICHARD G. MANN

VENALITY OF OFFICE. SeeOfficeholding.

VENICE. One of the first cities in Italy to engagein international commerce after the devastations ofthe early Middle Ages, Venice established a mari-time empire by 1300 and a territorial empire fromthe early 1400s. Its unique form of government,although not as perfect as its apologists claimed, wasa model of a ‘‘mixed’’ constitution for the earlymodern world. Adapting to changing circum-stances, its economy remained vibrant into theseventeenth century. It experienced little social tur-moil, while its literary and artistic achievementswere rivaled only by those of Florence and Rome.For most of its thousand years of existence, Venice

was free and independent. One of the most success-ful states in Europe, it fell at last to Napoleon in1797.

MARITIME EMPIREVenice’s unusual location and circumstances per-mitted its enterprising merchants to build a mari-time empire by 1300. It was founded in the sixthand seventh centuries by refugees from the main-land, who had been forced by the invasions of theGermanic Lombards to flee northern Italian towns.They settled on a cluster of low, sandy islands in theAdriatic, where they were protected by the sea yethad access in their boats and barges to the rivermouths that led to inland cities. Primarily fish-ermen, they also traded locally in fish and salt, whichthey manufactured from seawater. During the era ofthe Crusades (eleventh through fourteenth centu-ries), Venice (as well as Genoa, on the western coastof the Italian Peninsula) entered into Mediterraneancommerce, establishing merchant depots on islandsand seacoasts along the route to the Levant (NearEast). In the late fourteenth century the rivalry be-tween Venice and Genoa exploded into war. Venice

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