Joy of Museums Virtual Tours

Virtual Tours of Museums, Art Galleries, and Historic Sites

“Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez

"Portrait of Juan de Pareja" by Diego Velázquez

“Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez

The Portrait of Juan by Diego Velázquez is a portrait of Velázquez’s enslaved assistant Juan de Pareja, who was owned by Velázquez at the time the painting was completed.

Velázquez painted this portrait in Rome, while he was traveling in Italy. It is the earliest known portrait of a Spanish man of African descent.

During Velázquez’s stay in Rome, he displayed this painting as part of a more extensive exhibition of paintings at the Pantheon in 1650. His contemporaries applauded the art as standing out as a model of realism.

Diego Velázquez

Diego Velázquez, as the court painter to King Philip IV of Spain, was sent to Rome to purchase works of art for the King. Velázquez brought with him Juan de Pareja, who served as an assistant and who was of Moorish descent.

De Pareja (1606 – 1670 ) was born into slavery in Spain, but he became an artist in his own right, and he was freed in 1650, close to the time of this painting. His 1661 work, The Calling of Saint Matthew, is on display at the Museo del Prado.

Diego Velázquez was the leading artist in the Spanish court of King Philip IV, and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age.

He was a unique artist of the contemporary Baroque period. In the early nineteenth century, Velázquez’s artwork became a model for the realist and impressionist painters.

More recently, modern artists, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Francis Bacon, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.

Juan de Pareja

Juan de Pareja (1606 – 1670) was a Spanish painter, born into slavery in Antequera. He was a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Velázquez, who freed him in 1650.

Pareja was inherited by Velázquez and became an assistant in his painting after 1631. Juan de Pareja was born into slavery, the son of an enslaved African-descended woman and a white Spanish father.

Events during the time of Velázquez

  • 1605 – Don Quixote de la Mancha, the first modern novel, was written.
  • 1611 – King James Version of the Bible published in England.
  • 1618 – Thirty Years’ War – Protestants revolt against Catholic rule.
  • 1619 – The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown.
  • 1631 – The Taj Mahal is built in India.
  • 1642 – English Civil War.
  • 1660 – English Parliament calls for the restoration of the monarchy
  • 1664 – The English seize New Amsterdam from the Dutch. The city is renamed New York.

Portrait of Juan de Pareja

  • Title:                   Portrait of Juan de Pareja
  • Artist:                 Diego Velázquez
  • Date:                  1650
  • Medium:            Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions:       81.3 × 69.9 cm (2.6 × 2.2 ft)
  • Museum:            Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET

Diego Velázquez

“Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez

“Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez

Explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art

MET European Paintings Collection

MET Modern and Contemporary Art Collection

MET American Wing Collection

“Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez

Juan de Pareja

~~~

“I’ll never get tired of hearing your sweet words, but I will get tired of not.”
– Diego Velázquez

~~~


Photo Credits: 1) Diego Velázquez [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Popular this Week

Museums, Art Galleries & Historical Sites - Virtual Tours
Japanese Proverbs, Quotes, and Sayings
Ancient Artifacts - Virtual Tour
Greek Proverbs, Quotes, and Sayings
Mesopotamian Art and Artifacts - Virtual Tour
Mission San José - Virtual Tour
Law Code of Hammurabi
Korean Proverbs, Quotes, and Sayings
Russian Proverbs and Quotes
Mexican Proverbs, Quotes, and Sayings

SEARCH