Description of the picture:
Portrait of Juan de Parech – Diego Velazquez. 1650. Oil on canvas. 81.3×69.9
The work of Diego Velazquez is the pinnacle of Spanish painting of the XVII century. He was the court painter of King Philip IV. Master created submitted portrait of his student Juan de Parech, Moor from Seville during a trip to Italy.
The painting is designed in monochrome colors – gray, brown and black colors, animated only by a white collar of clothing and warm tones of the face and hands. Therefore, the face of a young artist with lively black eyes, in which the inquisitiveness and intelligence are subtly noticed by the painter, attracts attention.
But Velazquez did not just create a psychological portrait, of which there are many in his work, he portrayed here a man who was spiritually close to himself – as a talented student and fellow worker. Juan de Pareja instinctively leaned back, it seems as though he was carefully and at the same time slightly detached, like any artist, looking around the model. An understanding of people and their lives is read in his eyes. The image of a novice painter echoes the self-portrait of mature Velazquez in his famous painting “Meninas” (1656), stored in Madrid, in the Prado Museum."
