Diego Velázquez

Introduction & Top Questions
Sevilla (Seville)
Court painter in Madrid
First Italian journey
Middle years
Second Italian journey
Last years

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

What is everyone looking at in Las Meninas?

Velázquez, Diego: Philip III on Horseback

Diego Velázquez: Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Paul the Hermit

Diego Velázquez: portrait of Juan de Pareja

Góngora, oil painting by Velázquez; in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Infanta Margarita, oil painting by Diego Velázquez, 1660; in the Prado, Madrid. 2.2 × 1.5 m.

Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimental, conde-duque de Olivares

At a Glance

Diego Velázquez summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

How did Caravaggio’s tenebrism resemble Diego Velázquez’s early style?
How did Diego Velázquez become court painter to King Philip IV?
How did Diego Velázquez learn to paint realistic portraits?
How did Diego Velázquez popularize the bodegón in Spanish painting?
How did Diego Velázquez portray court dwarfs differently from royal sitters?
How did Diego Velázquez’s first Italian journey change his use of space and perspective?
How did Diego Velázquez’s portrait of Pope Innocent X follow earlier papal portrait traditions?
How did Francisco Pacheco influence Diego Velázquez’s early artistic style?
How did Peter Paul Rubens influence Diego Velázquez’s later court portraits?
How did Philip IV support Diego Velázquez’s work as an artist?
How did Titian influence Diego Velázquez’s royal portraits?
How did Venetian painting affect Diego Velázquez’s use of light and color?
How did perspective and visual illusion make Las Meninas seem like a real space?
How does Christ in the House of Martha and Mary combine a kitchen scene with a religious subject?
How does the mirror in Las Meninas create mystery about the scene?
How many children did Diego Velázquez have?
What duties did Diego Velázquez have as court painter to Philip IV?
What final court duty did Diego Velázquez perform at the French border in 1660?
What happened to most of Diego Velázquez’s drawings made in Italy?
When and where was Diego Velázquez born?
When did Diego Velázquez paint An Old Woman Cooking Eggs?
Where can many of Diego Velázquez’s later official paintings be seen?
Where did Diego Velázquez die?
Which French Impressionist artist admired Las Meninas?
Which Italian cities did Diego Velázquez visit during his first Italian journey?
Which Roman art organizations admitted Diego Velázquez as a member in 1650?
Which Spanish king did Diego Velázquez portray most often?
Which artistic technique influenced the dramatic light and shadow in Diego Velázquez’s early paintings?
Which artists did Diego Velázquez meet in Rome during his second Italian journey?
Which artists influenced the colors and flesh tones in The Rokeby Venus?
Which artworks did Diego Velázquez study at the Vatican in Rome?
Which details make The Waterseller of Seville an example of Diego Velázquez’s early naturalism?
Which early painting by Diego Velázquez depicts the Adoration of the Magi?
Which members of the Spanish royal family appear as reflections in Las Meninas?
Which subjects did Diego Velázquez paint during his years in Seville?
Who appears in Diego Velázquez’s portraits made for the Torre de la Parada hunting lodge?
Who hands over the key to Breda in The Surrender of Breda?
Who helped Diego Velázquez obtain a position at the Spanish court?
Who is the central child in Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas?
Who was Diego Velázquez’s first painting teacher?
Who was Juan de Pareja in relation to Diego Velázquez?
Who were Diego Velázquez’s parents?
Whom did Diego Velázquez marry in 1618?
Why are Diego Velázquez’s views of the Villa Medici important in the history of landscape painting?
Why did Diego Velázquez hire fresco painters in Italy?
Why did Diego Velázquez paint a portrait of Juan de Pareja before painting Pope Innocent X?
Why did Diego Velázquez paint equestrian portraits for the Buen Retiro palace?
Why did Diego Velázquez travel to Italy for the first time in 1629?
Why did Diego Velázquez travel to Madrid in 1622?
Why is Las Meninas often called a painting about painting?
Why was Diego Velázquez’s portrait of Juan de Pareja notable at auction in 1970?
What is Diego Velázquez famous for?
How was Diego Velázquez educated?
How did Diego Velázquez die?
Why was Artemisia Gentileschi so significant?
What happened to Artemisia Gentileschi in 1611?
How did Artemisia Gentileschi’s style differ from that of other women artists of her time?
Why is Francisco Goya famous?
Why is Albrecht Dürer so famous?
What is Albrecht Dürer known for?
What was Albrecht Dürer’s family like?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

The Art Story - Biography of Diego Velï¿½zquez
Art in Context - Diego Velï¿½zquez - The Life and Art of Spanish Painter Velï¿½zquez
The Met - VelÃ¡zquez (1599Â–1660)
Art UK - Diego VelÃ¡zquez: the captured moment
The National Gallery, London - Biography of Diego Velï¿½zquez
Museo Nacional del Prado - Diego Rodrï¿½guez de Silva y Velï¿½zquez

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Diego Velázquez - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Diego Velázquez - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Diego Velázquez

Spanish painter

Also known as: Diego Rodríguez de Silva Velázquez

Written by

Enriqueta Harris-Frankfort

Honorary Fellow of the Warburg Institute, University of London. Author of Goya; Velázquez; and others.

Enriqueta Harris-Frankfort

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 1, 2026 •History

Diego Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599, Sevilla, Spain—died August 6, 1660, Madrid) was the most important Spanish painter of the 17th century, a giant of Western art. Velázquez is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest artists. The naturalistic style in which he was trained provided a language for the expression of his remarkable power of observation in portraying both the living model and still life. Stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting,...

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