Diego Velazquez 5 stars worthy Portraits

 Diego Velazquez 5 stars worthy Portraits

Diego Velazquez made his painting career as a court painter. In his early years, he distinguished himself for his genra paintings. That was a type of painting theme that focused on the poor. Once he made a name for himself, some influential friends helped him become the court painter of Phillip IV. Above, we see Velazquez's earliest painting. It is simply a profile of a man. Usually, such profiles were painted with the sitter in a stoic expression. Velazquez choose to have his character with a surprised expression. Thus, this early portrait was full of both realism and emotion. It is interesting to note that his style bear semblance to Caravaggio's realism. Then again, almost all baroque artist drew "inspiration" from the infamous Caravaggio. In any case, this pretty painting has earned Diego Velazquez 5 stars rating.

This portrait is quite original. Here the sculptor is sculpting a person out of the background. This is pretty original for the Baroque time period. The face of the artist is realistic. One gets a good view of his character. In any case, Diego Velazquez deserves 5 stars rating for this lovely portrait. 

Some of Velazquez most infamous portraits, were his dwarf portraits. Like I said before, the courts were full of them. Velazquez did not try to hide their size. Heck, he always had his dwarfs sitting down to emphasize their small size. He did not ridicule them. Rather, he gave his dwarf a sense of dignity unknown to these men during that time period. In their paintings, he showed that there was more to the dwarfs than their small size. In this painting, Velazquez has his dwarf sitting on the saddle of a horse. This dwarf was famous for his childlike behavior. Thus, he had him in a pose that invoked the fidgety leg movements of children. His expression is also childlike and curious. His hand is playing with a folding of his attire. The scenery of this painting is like the outdoors. Overall, Don Francisco comes out like a very normal kind of guy, deserving respect. Let us not forget, the Don part of his name. This dwarf was a noble, deserving of respect. For being true to this commission, Diego Velazquez deserves 5 stars rating.

For being a buffoon, this guy is most certainly not hilarious looking. His dog horse is certainly amassing. This painting is from Velazquez later period. During this time, Velazquez started loosening his brush stroke. He used proto impressionism techniques on the clothing. Overall, it gave them that fancy shimmering look, without all the hard work of painting all the details. In the end, the eye took care of such minor annoyances. In any case, this lovely portrait by Velazquez deserves 5 stars rating.

The smallness of this dwarf is emphasized by the big book on his lap. However, his education is shown by the numerous books around him. Close to the foreground, we see an ink well and some parchments. This man is a writer. He is more than his small stature. His expression and rich clothing also demands respect. Truly, this lovely portrait by Diego Velazquez deserves 5 stars rating.

 This next painting shows Don Sebastian. Like the other Dwarfs, he too is sitting down. The foreshortening, really makes him look short. However, his person is no laughing matter. He is looking intently at the viewer. His clenched fist shows that he is a man of action. If I remember correctly, Don Sebastien was an ambassador of sorts to the Court of King Phillip. As such, he was worthy of respect. In any case, this lovely painting by Diego Velazquez gets 5 stars rating.

This is the final portrait. I think this guy was a moor or sorts. He was a very good friend of Velazquez. For this reason, the was featured in this painting. His face looks quite expressive and lovely. I think I am going to cut things rather short. This lovely painting gets 5 stars. I hope that you liked my little Diego Velazquez blog. There are a few more along the way.