Brian Lee English 7d block
Option #2 Autobiography/ Discussion/ Critique
Juan was born in the early seventeenth century. His mother was dead when he
was young. One day, his owner died so Juan de Pareja went to Diego Velazquez. At
his house, Juan de Pareja helps his master’s work. One day, there was a message from
the king. The king wanted Diego Velazquez to draw his portrait. So the studio
changed. Juan de Pareja once falls in love with a girl named Miri (he loses her). After
that, the king orders Diego Velazquez to go to Italy and get some art works.
It took them a long time to get back home. When they got back home,
Paquita, Diego Velazquez’s daughter grew up and she wanted to marry somebody. At
that point, Juan de Pareja helped Paquita doing things such as delivering messages to
her friend. Finally, Paquita gets to marry her friend (At first, Diego Velazquez wanted
Paquita to marry someone else).
Juan de Pareja goes back to Italy. When they arrive there, Diego
Velazquez gets his hand hurt and he takes a rest. When his hand gets cured, he said
that he doesn’t feel as comfortable as before so he has to practice. Diego Velazquez
decides to paint Juan de Pareja. This is how Juan de Pareja’s portrait is painted. When
he comes back from Italy, he notices that a new slave came named Lolis and the
information that mistress is ill and that she is soon going to die. After that, he finally
confesses that he was studying art. That is when Juan de Pareja gets free from his
master. Since he gets free, he gets to paint and he gains freedom.
As Juan gets his freedom, he wishes to marry Lolis. Lolis gets free
from the mistress. Juan de Pareja gets married with Lolis at the church. Sooner or
later, Paquita was going to have a baby. When Paquita’s baby was about to born,
Paquita didn’t survive and so did the baby. When mistress had known that Paquita
and her baby died, she also died. When that was informed to Diego Velazquez, he
became very sick. He didn’t talk, or eat very much. All Juan de Pareja could do was
to nurse him.
One day, master wanted to go to his studio so he went there. Diego
Velazquez died when he was at the studio. The property of Diego Velazquez was
divided. Juan de Pareja and Lolis returns to Sevill. Juan de Pareja finds Bartolome
Esteban Murillo. Bartolome Esteban Murillo welcomes Juan de Pareja and his wife.
So they get to live in Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s place. There, Juan de Pareja
painted free and safe.
I was born in 1995, October 18, in New Jersey. I lived in America for
few years. When I came to Korea, I went to a American kinder garden and went to a
Korean school for 6 years. After that I went to KIS.
Juan de Pareja’s life and my life can be different and similar. Juan de
Pareja is a black slave and doesn’t have freedom (until he gets freed by his master,
Diego Velazquez) but I do have freedom. The year that I am living and where Juan is
living is also different. It can be similar because nothing is really different about Juan
and I but his race and the background.
There were few parts that was memorable, such as Juan loving art,
marrying Lolis, gaining freedom, and people ding (Paquita, Diego Velazquez,
Mistress, Paquita’s baby) I felt sad for Juan when he couldn’t tell that he wanted to
learn art because he was a slave. That part was kind of disturbing part. A pleasing part
is when Juan gains freedom and when he gets free to paint. That was his hope- to
draw freely- and this part is when Juan gained his freedom. The author wasn’t really
successful on making Juan look real. I didn’t really know that a master would free a
slave.
The first painting is Reinterpretación de una obra de arte. The
focus of the picture is at the girl in the middle. She looks like she is rich and people
who is surrounding seems to be her family. The mood seems to be kind of serious and
looks to have a party. There is a mirror above the girl's head, and that reflects two
men. One of the men would be the person who drew this and the person behind her in
a black cloths looks like a painter. I also noticed that there is a dog and the dog
doesn't seem to be happy or healthy.
The next one is a portrait of Juan de Pareja. This looks like a painting
of someone that is important. The mood is serious and fierce. The person who is in
the picture looks someone that is in a high rank. He is looking directly at us, and he
doesn't seem to be happy. The background is brown and the brown color gets darker
as it goes up. There aren't many distractions so it makes us focus at the painting.
The last painting is Surrender of Breda. It looks like there has been a
war because people are holding a weapon. A person with a rifle is looking directly at
us and the painter wasn’t happy with this thing because he drew a backside of the
horse facing us. There are two people in the center and it looks like the person in the
right with the black suit is in a higher rank.