Diego Velázquez (artist)

On his return to Madrid, Velázquez resumed his duties as court portraitist with the rendition Prince Baltasar Carlos with a Dwarf (1631, Museum of Fine Arts), an image made poignant by the young prince's death before reaching adulthood. In 1634 Velázquez oversaw the decoration of the throne room in the new royal palace of Buen Retiro. His scheme was based on 12 scenes of battles in which Spanish troops had been victorious—painted by the most prestigious artists of the day, including Velázquez himself—and royal equestrian portraits. Velázquez's contribution to the cycle of battle pictures included the Surrender of Breda (1634, Prado), which portrays a magnanimous Spanish general receiving the leader of defeated Flemish troops after the siege of the town of Breda in 1624. The delicacy of its style and the astonishing range of emotions it captures make this the most celebrated historical composition of the Spanish baroque.

Velázquez's second major series of paintings from the 1630s is a group of hunting portraits of the royal family for the Torre de la Parada, a hunting lodge near Madrid. His famous depictions of court dwarfs, in which, unlike court-jester portraits by earlier artists, the subjects are treated with respect and sympathy, date from the late 1630s and early 1640s. Velázquez painted few religious pictures after entering the king's employ; Saints Anthony and Paul (late 1630s, Prado) and Immaculate Conception (1644?, Prado) are notable exceptions.

During the last 20 years of Velázquez's life, as his rise to prominence in court circles continued, his work as court official and architect assumed prime importance, limiting his artistic output. In 1649 he made a second trip to Italy, this time to buy works of art for the king's collection. During his year's stay in Rome from 1649 to 1650 he painted the magnificent portraits Juan de Pareja (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City) and Pope Innocent X (Palazzo Doria-Pamphili, Rome). At this time he was also admitted into Rome's Academy of Saint Luke. The so-called Rokeby Venus (National Gallery, London) probably dates from this period as well.

The key works of the painter's last two decades are Las Hilanderas (The Spinners, about 1656, Prado), also known as The Fable of Arachne (see Arachne), an image of sophisticated mythological symbolism, and his masterwork, Las meninas (The Maids of Honor, 1656, Prado), a stunning group portrait of the royal family and Velázquez himself in the act of painting.