Diego Velázquez: A Giant of Western Art

Diego Velázquez - Las Meninas - 1656 - Oil on canvas - 10'5" x 9'1" - Museo del Prado, Madrid (click photo for larger image)The most important Spanish painter of the 17th century, Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest artists. The naturalistic style in which he was trained provided a language for the expression of his remarkable powers of observation in portraying both the living model and the still life. Stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting, Velázquez combined faithful likenesses and characterizations into masterpieces of visual impression, unique in his time. With a brilliant diversity of brushstrokes and subtle harmonies of color, he achieved effects of form, texture, space, light, and atmosphere that aptly identify him as one of the chief forerunners of 19th-century French Impressionism. His very famous “Las Meninas” is featured here.