109. Diego Velázquez,
The Surrender of Breda, 1634-1635.

Oil on canvas, 307.5 x 367 cm.

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

 

 

Velázquez came to the attention of King Philip IV through the portraits he had painted in 1622, and he became Court Painter in the following year. Through his art and his personality Velázquez achieved such a position of trust that the King even appointed him House and Travel Marshal in charge of the pomp and organization of the Court.

In the first paintings carried out in Madrid, Velázquez was already achieving the full freedom of natural expression that had no vestiges of the inhibitions of his Seville youth. His main work in these years is the picture known as The Feast of Bacchus (“Los Borrachos”) (1628-1629). His new style was already fixed by the time Velázquez undertook a journey to Italy, a year after completion of this picture. In Rome he then painted The Forge of Vulcan (1630), a well-known piece. This Forge of Vulcan is a work that is a close relative to The Drinkers in the delineation of the bony, broad shouldered and understated figures. Despite such pictures, Velázquez was not lacking a religious depiction in the deepest sense within his basic outlook, which is evident in the thrilling work, Christ on the Cross (c. 1632).