Diego Velazquez Famous Paintings [Top 20 Fine Art Masterpieces]
Who Was Diego Velázquez?
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the main artist in the court of King Philip IV, and one of the most significant painters of the Spanish Golden Age.
He was an artist of the contemporary Baroque time frame. He painted scores of portraits of the Spanish noble families, other remarkable European figures, and ordinary citizens.
From the principal quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the pragmatist and impressionist painters, in particular, Édouard Manet. Well-known artists, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Francis Bacon, have paid tribute to Velázquez by reproducing a few of his most popular works.
Diego Velazquez Self-portrait
Top 20 Diego Velazquez Artworks
- The Jester Don Diego de Acedo by Diego Velazquez
- The Waterseller of Seville by Diego Velazquez
- Old Woman Frying Eggs by Diego Velazquez
- The Supper at Emmaus by Diego Velazquez
- The Triumph of Bacchus by Diego Velazquez
- Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares by Diego Velazquez
- Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez
- Philip IV in Brown and Silver by Diego Velazquez
- Portrait of Juan de Pareja by Diego Velazquez
- The Surrender of Breda by Diego Velazquez
- The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velazquez
- Infanta Margarita in a Blue Dress by Diego Velazquez
- Christ Crucified by Diego Velazquez
- Portrait of Sebastián de Morra by Diego Velazquez
- The Immaculate Conception by Diego Velazquez
- Mars Resting by Diego Velazquez
- Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles by Diego Velazquez
- Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan by Diego Velazquez
- Las Hilanderas by Diego Velazquez
- Portrait of Innocent X by Diego Velazquez
The Jester Don Diego de Acedo by Diego Velazquez
Diego de Acedo is sitting outside on a stone. He is wearing a conventional dark dress with beautiful intertwined fabrics and a cap positioned sideways on his head.
The books and the inkstand most likely allude to his role at the Spanish Court. The portrait was painted toward the end of the 1630s before the Torre de la Parada, a sixteenth-century chasing lodge that Philip had remodeled and brightened for his collection of paintings to be displayed.
Completed in: 1645
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 106 cm × 83 cm
Location: Museo del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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The Waterseller of Seville by Diego Velazquez
The elderly man is giving the young boy a glass of water.
Both the subjects never look at one another, nor do they look at the watcher. This could be a direct result of their societal position or something as basic as their age contrast.
Completed in: 1618 to 1622
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 105 cm x 80 cm
Location: Apsley House, London
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Old Woman Frying Eggs by Diego Velazquez
The Old Woman Cooking Eggs shows Velázquez's aptitude in painting individuals in conventional settings and having it encompass us, as observers, to that moment in time.
Velázquez was roughly eighteen or nineteen when he created this piece.
The painting shows a senior woman sitting before an earthen pot in which she is cooking eggs. On the left side is a young boy watching her cook while holding a carafe of wine in one hand and a melon under his other arm.
Completed in:1618
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 100.50 cm x 119.50 cm
Location: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Medium: Oil on canvas
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The Supper at Emmaus by Diego Velazquez
Christ is portrayed after his restoration. The light source in this work enters from the left and seems fixated on or close to Christ's head. The other two men seem to be having some sort of discussion.
Velazquez's experimentation with alternate points of view of a subject and his capacity to bring the watcher into an artwork is beautifully demonstrated in this composition.
Completed in: 1618-1623
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 123.2 cm x 132.7 cm
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Medium: Oil on canvas
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The Triumph of Bacchus by Diego Velazquez
In The Triumph of Bacchus, Velazquez shows Bacchus encompassed by various intoxicated men. Bacchus is putting a wreath on one of the men, who is kneeling down.
The painting is generally known as Los Borrachos or The Drunks. Two of the primary characters gaze straight out of the painting at the observers as though welcome them and to join the triumph of Bacchus.
Completed in: 1626–1628
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 165 cm × 225 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares by Diego Velazquez
Considered by numerous individuals to be Velázquez's best equestrian portrait, the Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares, or Gaspar de Guzmán on Horseback. Shows the Count-Duke on a horse, who is ready to gallop.
Completed in: 1634
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 313 cm × 239 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez
Las Meninas has long been recognized as one of the most important paintings in the western world.
The main focus of the painting is Margaret Theresa who is Philip IV's daughter. The painting beautifully encompassed various subjects and circumstances.
Completed in: 1656
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 318 cm x 276 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Philip IV in Brown and Silver by Diego Velazquez
This painting is sometimes referred to as the Silver Philp.
Velázquez's combines dark and light colors in his delineation of the silk, silver, and darker tones of Philip's attire.
Completed in: 1631 to 1635
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 200 cm x 113 cm
Location: The National Gallery
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Portrait of Juan de Pareja by Diego Velazquez
In 1648, Philip IV sent Velázquez to Rome to buy some masterpiece paintings for the Alcázar Palace in Madrid.
Velázquez had with him Juan de Pareja, who at that time was his companion. The two men arrived in Genoa, then went to Milan to see Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, and afterward to Venice to see Tintoretto and Titian.
They purchased paintings of Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese en route. During their stay in Rome, Velázquez painted this little oil portrait of Pareja, maybe in anticipation of him knowing he would paint a portrait of Pope Innocent X. And he would have to show him one of his paintings.
Pareja was a skilled painter himself.
Completed in: 1650
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 81.3 cm × 69.9 cm
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Medium: Oil on canvas
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The Surrender of Breda by Diego Velazquez
The painting portrays a military triumph of the Spanish army. The capitulation of the Dutch to the Spanish soldiers.
It is unique to see how Velázquez built up the contrast between these two armies. The Dutch, on the left, seem unorganized. Versus the Spanish soldiers on the right, who are tightly gathered.
The focal point of the painting is in the middle of the composition when the dutch commander is giving the key to Ambrogio Spinola. The chief commander of the Spanish soldiers.
Completed in: 1634 to 1635
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 307 cm × 367 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velazquez
The Rokeby Venus is one of the few nude pieces by Velázquez. Nudes were incredibly uncommon in seventeenth-century Spanish art.
The painting delineates the Roman goddess Venus leaning back on her bed, with her back to the observer.
The layout of this composition is In contrast to most depictions of the goddess, which display her having long blond hair and facing the observer.
Velázquez uniquely displays her as a brunette while Cupid holds the mirror in front of her.
Completed in: 1647 to 1651
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 122 cm x 177 cm
Location: The National Gallery
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Infanta Margarita in a Blue Dress by Diego Velazquez
The painting depicts Margarita, with a dark blue dress, that has silver and gold beautifully designed into the dress.
Completed in: 1659
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 127 cm × 107 cm
Location: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Christ Crucified by Diego Velazquez
This masterpiece depicts the emotional characteristics of the Spanish Baroque art style at that time.
Completed in: 1632
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 249 cm x 170 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Portrait of Sebastián de Morra by Diego Velazquez
Morra is sitting in a cumbersome position for a portrait painting. And his look is fixed upon the observer with a serious gaze. Nevertheless, his focused look might just be part of his character.
Completed in: 1645
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 106.5 cm x 81.5 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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The Immaculate Conception by Diego Velazquez
The subject of the New Testament, the Virgin Mary, is standing upon a moon encompassed by a cosmic system of stars.
This painting was hung at a Carmelite religious circle at Seville.
Completed in: 1619
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 101.6 cm x 135 cm
Location: The National Gallery
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Mars Resting by Diego Velazquez
As opposed to delineating Mars as the typical virile, Roman God of War, Velazquez has depicted Mars as a standard, more common-looking man.
Mars is sitting on what looks like a treasure chest, with his shield and armor next to his legs.
His posture reflects those of Michelangelo's Il Pensieroso and Ludovisi Ares.
Completed in: 1640
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 179 cm × 95 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles by Diego Velazquez
Anecdotal portrait of a youthful Balthasar Charles.
This is one of the various equestrian compositions that the Spanish government commissioned Velazquez.
Completed in: 1635
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 209 cm × 173 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan by Diego Velazquez
This painting portrays a moment in Greco-Roman folklore when the god Apollo visits Vulcan, who is making weapons for the god of war Mars.
Completed in: 1629 to 1630
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 223 cm × 290 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Las Hilanderas by Diego Velazquez
One of Velázquez's most complex works of art, Las Hilanderas, depicts the story of Athena, who in the fable had a weaving competition with Arachne.
Completed in: 1655
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 220 cm × 289 cm
Location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Portrait of Innocent X by Diego Velazquez
This is one of the most renowned portrait paintings in the Western world.
During an excursion to Italy, Velazquez offered to paint a portrait of the Pope who first asked him to demonstrate his painting abilities.
Velazquez showed his portrait work of Juan de Pareja to the Pope, which persuaded the Pope to get his portrait painted by Velazquez.
Completed in: 1650
Style or Period: Baroque
Measurements: 141 cm × 119 cm
Location: Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Diego Velazquez Paintings
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1 comment
I believe I have one of his paintings.