ITALIAN
AND SPAIN,
1600-1700
GARDNER CHAPTER 24-3
PP. 665-670
SPANISH BAROQUE PAINTING

Spain’s failure to capitalize on trading
opportunities led to its slow decline
beginning in the 17th century

As in Italy, Spanish Baroque artists sought
to move viewers and to encourage
greater devotion and piety

The greatest Spanish painter of the age
was Velazquez. As court painter to Philip
IV he painted many portraits, the best of
which is Las Meninas. The work's complex
and enigmatic composition raises
questions about reality and illusion, and
creates an uncertain relationship
between the viewer and the figures
depicted. From the first quarter of the
19th century, Velázquez's artwork was a
model for the Realist painters
JOSE DE RIBERA

JOSÉ DE RIBERA, Martyrdom of Saint
Bartholomew, ca. 1639. Oil on
canvas, approx. 7’ 8” x 7’ 8”

Influenced by Caravaggio -> Ribera
made naturalism and compelling
drama primary ingredients of his
paintings

Grim and dark in subject and form ->
Saint Philip’s executioners hoisting
him into position to die on the cross

Martyrdom scenes were popular in
Counter-Reformation Spain
FRANCISCO
DE ZUBARAN

FRANCISCO DE ZURBARÁN, Saint
Serapion, 1628. Oil on canvas, 3’
11 1/2” x 3’ 4 3/4”

Francisco de Zurbarán was also
influenced by Caravaggio's
naturalism and dramatic lighting
effects

His painting of Saint Serapionm
shows the coarse-featured saint
emerging in bright light from a
dark background
DIEGO VELAZQUEZ

DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Water Carrier of Seville,
ca. 1619. Oil on canvas, 3’ 5 1/2” x 2’ 7 1/2”

Diego Velazquez -> Spanish painter who was
the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV.
In addition to numerous renditions of scenes
of historical and cultural significance, he
painted scores of portraits of the Spanish
royal family, other notable European figures,
and commoners, culminating in the
production of his masterpiece Las Meninas
(1656)

Influence of Caravaggio seen in the
dramatic contrast of darks and lights in
Diego Velázquez's Water Carrier of Seville >also includes plebeian figures and finely
painted, naturalistic detail

Deceptively simple genre scene -> depicted
w/a sacred quality

Rounded qualities of the figures

Water sweetened by a fresh fig placed for
flavor
SURRENDER OF BREDA

DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Surrender of Breda,
1634–1635. Oil on canvas, 10’ 1” x 12’
1/2”, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Depicts the 1625 episode in which the
Dutch were forced to yield the town of
Breda to the Spanish

Stresses the graciousness of the Spanish
victors -> organized and well armed on
the right

The defeated Dutch on the left appear
bedraggled and disorganized

Dutch mayor of Breda hands the keys to
the Spanish general who magnanimously
stops the mayor from kneeling

No encounter of this kind ever occurred
VELASQUEZ
AND PHILIP IV

DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, King Philip IV of
Spain (Fraga Philip), 1644. Oil on
canvas, 4’ 3 1/8” x 3’ 3 1/8”, The
Frick Collection, New York

One of the many portraits of Philip
IV -> this one called the Fraga
Philip -> painted while he was on
military campaign in the town of
Fraga

Depicted as a military leader ->
wearing exquisite attire w/baton
and sword

Note the large Habsburg jaw

DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Philip IV in
Brown and Silver (1631)

This was definitely the first portrait
the artist produced after his first
trip to Italy, in that it adopts the
softer and more colorful palette of
the Venetian school. Life size, it is
unlike most portraits of Philip IV, in
that it does not show him in his
usual wholly black costume.
Instead it shows him in a brown
and silver embroidered costume
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ , Old Woman Frying Eggs, (1618)

Diego Velazquez, The Triumph of Bacchus or Los
Borrachos - circa 1629

In the work, the god is represented as a person within the
small celebration, but his skin is clearer than the other
ones, to be recognized more easily.

The scene can be divided in two halves. In the left, there
is the very illuminated Bacchus figure, closer to the Italian
style inspired by Caravaggio. Bacchus and the
character left behind him refer to the classical myth and
are represented by the traditional way. It can be
highlighted the idealization of the god face, the clear
light which illuminate him and a more classicist style. The
right side, however, presents some drunkards, men of
streets that invite us to join their party, with a very Spanish
atmosphere, similar to Jose de Ribera’s style. There is no
idealization in them, who present large and worn out
faces. Neither the clear light which illuminates Bacchus is
present in this side, and the figures are immersed in an
evident chiaroscuro.

In this work, Velázquez introduce a profane aspect on a
mythological subject, a tendency he would cultivate
more during the following years
LAS MENINAS

DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Las Meninas (The
Maids of Honor), 1656. Oil on
canvas, approx. 10’ 5” x 9’. Museo
del Prado, Madrid

Group portrait of the artist in his
studio at work -> he steps back from
the canvas and looks at the viewer

Central is the Infanta Margharita of
Spain with meninas (attendants), a
dog, a dwarf, servants

King and queen appear in a mirror

Alternating darks and lights draw us
deeper into the canvas; the mirror
simultaneously reflects out into our
space

Dappled effect of light on
shimmering surfaces

Painting originally hung in Philip IV’s
study
LAS
MENINAS

Velázquez's great masterpiece Las
Meninas shows the painter at work
on a portrait with the King and
Queen and members of the royal
court present. His style is now more
"painterly" and is concerned with
producing more purely optical
sensations through the
manipulation of light and color
tones