VELASQUEZ

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3783, 17 July 1936, Page 9

VELASQUEZ

EXPONENT OF SPANISH REALISM.

Though he was borne at Seville as long ago as 6th June, 1599, he was virtually an unknown painter until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The explantation is that he was early appointed painter to King Philip IV., and his works were the royal property, and only to be seen on palace walls. On advantage secured by this arrangement was that certain art collectors were not allowed to get possession of his paintings. At the same time, his ideals and tyle were so novel, and in such striking contracts with prevailing standards that they attracted little attention. The incident that lifted him into fame was the transfer of the royal pictures to the museum in Madrid. Their numbers reflected credit on his industry. One authority reckons up 274 pictures attributed to him, and no fewer than 121 of these are in the United Kingdom, more than half being in London. With the exception of Spain, no country possesses so many of them as England. In the sixteenth century Seville was the most important city in the ’Peninsula, and was renowned as “the capital of all th merchants tn the world.” To her wharfs came all the wealth brought from the new world. Other influences than those of commerce were shaping the course of Spain. In its flood-tide of art the genius of Italy was sweeping onward, and on more than one occasion Velasquez visited that country. No greatter tribute could be paid to him than the fact that he lived to exercise a very considerable influence on the art of Italy. One of his contemporaries said the Velasquez had come to Italy as a teacher rather than a disciple. The proper name of the painter was Diego Rodriquez de Silva, but he preferred his mother’s patronymic, Velasquez. The father came from an old Portuguese family, and had gone to Seville about sixty years before the artist’s birth. While the boy was at school acquiring various languages, his father saw that are was his son’s vocation. Till then he had been secretly drawing and painting, with copybooks for his canvas and sketchbooks. Happily the family had means. Wilberforce and Gilbert, in their excellent biography, point out

that at this period there was abundance of masters in Seville, and Herrera was then at the zenith of his powers. At the age of twelve the sensitive promising lad was sent to Herrera as a pupil; but he was not long at work till he found himself in most uncongenial company. Herrera was a genius, with the temper of a demon, and was making the experience of driving away pupils as fast as they came. He set them to make studies of meat, fish, loaves, pots and pans, and under this tutelage Velasquez, lad the foundation of that realism which became his characteristic glory. However, the harshness of the master compelled the lad to leave him. By this time he had learned how to teach himself. His next master was Pacheco, conventional and feeble, but possessing insight enough to recognise the surpassing promise of his pupil, who stayed with him for five years, and in 1618 married Pacheco’s daughter. The father-in-law wrote: “After five years of education and training I married him to my daughter, induced by his youth, integrity and good qualities, and the prospect of his great natural genius.” The first picture he painted without help was the Water Carrier of Seville, which contains three human figures, and became famous for other reasons than its artistic power. When King Joseph Boneparte was fleeing from Madrid in 1813 he took it with him in his carriage, but was intercepted, and the picture was presented to the Duke of Wellington by Ferdinand VII. It is now in Apsley House, London.

When Velasquez brought this picture to Madrid in 1622 his countryman, Fonseca, introduced him to the Prime Minister, Count Olivarez. He presented him to the King, who at once commissioned him to paint his portrait. To use the language of the day, his fortune was made. From time to time he painted in all some forty different portraits of his Majesty, and was appointed Court Painter at a salary of twenty ducats a month, in addition to the price paid for the pictures. Prince Charles of England came to court on matrimonial business bent, and Velasquez painted his portrait, which Sir W. Stirling Maxwell thinks was finally taken to America.

One of the masterpieces of the new impressionism was the Los Barrachos (The Topers), in which Bacchus is shown seated on a cask hobnobbing with some of his notaries. The faces are marked by that gravity which is a comical result “of desperate attempts to ape a sobriety conspicuous by its absence.” Some of the critics maintain that Las Menivas (The Maids of Honour) is his masterpiece, the best specimen of his particular style. The little Infanta Margarita is the central figure. She was only five years old, and the absurd crinoline effectually destroys the childish grace and spontaneity. On the right of the picture stands Velasquez at his easel. In the foreground are some dwarfs, whose grotesque appearance suggests a foil. A kneeling man presents a cup of water, and another is dropping a cursey. A lady of honour in nun’s garb talks to an official, and at the far end the major-domo is going up a stair case. A mirror reflects the faces of the King and Queen. The dominant feature is light and shade, and at every point it suggests vitality.

One of the most vivid productions of Velasquez was his portrait of Admiral Pareja. It is said to have been painted with long brushes which secured the impression made upon the onlookers. Herrera had practised and taught it. “Strolling one morning into the s'tudio, the King was annoyed to see Admiral Pareja ( apparently) lounging in a dusky corner of the room. According to royal commands, he ought to have been on the high seas. Philip’s angry interrogation met with no response, and his Majesty very soon made the astounding discovery that he had been addressing a picture, not a man.” What a tribute to the artist! The sharp dividing line in the life of Velasquez was drawn by the King when he appointed the painter to the post of “Aposentador Mayor,” which means quartermaster-general of the King’s household, or simply master of ceremonies. It was deemed a high honour, but to a man with a passion for art its heavy ceremonialism, its elaborate etiquette and its endless red tape, meant neglect of what was his very life. To see to the King’s chair, to the removing of the cloth, the assigning of the proper places for cardinals and viceroys was a burden intolerable to a man of spirit, and it certainly shortened his life. When the Infanta was married to Louis XIV. Velasquez had to see to the erection of the pavilion on the Isle oi Pheasants and while busy on the task he contracted a fever, which ended with his death on 6th August, 1650. The versatility of Velasquez is shown in portraits, landscapes, animals and in every branch except the marine. Where he outshines himself is in the oddities, such a s jesters and warfs, which in boldness arid spirit rival those of Hogarth. His most dramatic picture is the Surrender of Breda, where the impression of magnitude is conveyed by a wonderful device of perspective. The’spectator is given the idea of thousands of men drawn up in battle array bevond the limits of the picture. Realism did not lend itself so readily to sacred subjects, vet the Crusifixion leaves a profoundly pathetic impression the more it is studied. Velas-

quez had a remarkable in fluence on Murillo, who visited him in Madrid. He also corresponded with Rubens and other recognised masters. Velasquez was the faithful interpreter of nature, the prince of vitality in art, and the first exponent of Spanish realism, and Spanish character. He served art as Cervantes served literature.. To his infinite credit his career was without dishonour. Never amid the glory and glamour of success did he lose the simple native kindliness which he exhibited in his early years. He had ample store of tact and geniality, and the love which illumines domestic life must have been his, for it is not without significance that only eight days after his death his wife followed him to where “beyond these voices there is peace.”