Velázquez in the Context of the History of Painting

Conference presented by Jérémie Koering

The art of painting of Diego Velázquez is deeply rooted in a profound knowledge of the history of painting. From Jan van Eyck to Rubens, including Correggio, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Van Dyck and Ribera, there are hardly any great painters whom the Spanish master did not study with close attention. This intimate understanding of their techniques, composition, and staging was acquired through direct contact with their works. It should be noted that Velázquez was not only a painter at the court of Philip IV, but also the king’s aposentador, in charge of the royal collections and the furnishing of the palace.
In order to explore the connections Velázquez forged with the art of his peers, we will focus in particular on the artist’s late masterpieces: The Rokeby Venus, The Spinners, and Las Meninas. We will see how the originality of his art lies in the thoughtful transformation of earlier artistic inventions.