Velázquez: Master of Spanish Baroque Painting Techniques
Velázquez: A Master of Spanish Painting
Velázquez is considered the most important and brilliant figure of Spanish painting. Born in Seville, he soon moved to Madrid, where he was appointed court painter to Philip IV. He made trips to Italy and represents the culmination of the formal and technical achievements of modern painting. His key characteristics include:
- He is the most genuine representative of Baroque naturalistic realism. He developed a balanced and serene naturalism, focusing on everyday life. His language was anti-rhetorical.
- His subject realism is linked to technical realism, achieving perfect visual or sensory illusions through the primacy of light and color, which lead to the conquest of aerial perspective. He largely ignores drawing, and color configures forms, using a loose and free “impressionistic” brushstroke. He is noted for his rich and vibrant colors.
- The light is clear and natural, achieved through aerial perspective: through the gradation of color and brightness, using a general, selective, and nuanced approach. The use of different planes of depth also helps to accentuate the feeling of space.
- He uses a very peculiar compositional technique, an expression of the Baroque idea of the illusory and deceptive nature of reality, playing with illusion, pictorial space, and real space, with the appearance and reality of mirrors. Aspects of reality show outside the box, looking at the viewer, as “a box within a box.”
- He explored all kinds of topics:
- Religious (e.g., “Crucified”)
- Traditional (e.g., “The Water Seller of Seville”)
- Portraits: Portraits of Felipe IV, “Las Meninas”, and portraits of clowns.
- Mythological (e.g., “The Drunkards”, “The Spinners”)
- Historical (e.g., “The Surrender of Breda”)
- Landscapes (e.g., “Villa Médicis”)
Stages and Works
Initial Stage
His initial stage began in Seville, in a style of realism and naturalism with gloomy manners, which dominate the well-delimited contours and plasticity, as well as attracting interest in the qualities of objects. Once installed in the court, his style began to change: the dark tones became smooth, and atmospheric effects were reduced in space. This period includes the first court portraits and his approaches to mythological themes, such as “The Drunkards.”
Stage of Maturity
A first trip to Italy contributed to the evolution of his style to the full conquest of visual realism, with the primacy of color, applying a loose, free, and unfinished brush. The role of light is clear, natural, and projected lights and shadows. He mastered the representation of space and depth through the application of funds for aviation perceptual landscape, where atmospheric values prevail. He also shows a mastery of the resources of linear perspective and composition, clear and tidy, where bias dominates the game, using “opposition.” Key works include “The Forge of Vulcan” and “The Surrender of Breda.”
Final Stage
His final stage perfected the visual illusion of pictorial reality, with unmatched chromaticism, which is implemented through very loose brush strokes, “impressionistic.” He achieved a domain of light. Atmospheric realism extends to the whole picture, with the conquest of aerial perspective. Notable works include “The Rokeby Venus,” the gardens of the Villa Medici, “Las Meninas,” and “The Spinners.”