DIEGO VELAZQUEZ

Tiny and compact introduction to the rightly popular important paintings of Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velázquez, a native of Seville, 1599-1660. The earliest of his surviving works entitled Three Musicians (pages 8-9), is a genre piece, depicting a trio of musicians, a young boy to the left gazing at the viewer, a monkey on his shoulder, a guitar player and a violinist, singing happily with bread and wine on the table before them. How the light catches the furrowed forehead of an elderly bearded man shrouded in a cape carrying a case, his fingers worn, his hair long, his eyes a little troubled, this is how portraiture by Velázquez captures the spirit of the sitter, be they royalty, dwarfs, Jesus Christ on the cross, the nobility, battle scenes, beggars and tiny children or of course his most famous piece Las Meninas, the resting dog in the foreground, Velázquez himself at the back to the left painting the portrait. Biographical timeline, 140pp approximately 100 colour images. 10.5cm x 14cm.