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Work 61,480 of 149,548
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This information may change as the result of ongoing research.
* This information may change as the result of ongoing research.
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)
Juan de Pareja (born about 1610, died 1670)
1650
Oil on canvas
32 x 27 1/2 in. (81.3 x 69.9 cm)
Purchase, Fletcher and Rogers Funds, and Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), by exchange, supplemented by gifts from friends of the Museum, 1971
1971.86
This extraordinary portrait shows Velázquez's slave of Moorish descent who served as an assistant in his workshop. Painted in Rome, it was displayed publicly beneath the portico of the Pantheon in March 1650. Velázquez clearly intended to impress his Italian colleagues with his unique artistry. Indeed, we are told that the picture "gained such universal applause that in the opinion of all the painters of the different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth." Velázquez manages to convey not only the physical presence of the sitter but his proud character: he became a painter in his own right and was freed by Velázquez in 1654 (the act of liberation was signed in 1650—nine months after the picture was displayed, but it required Pareja to remain another four years with his master).

The picture was acquired in Italy by Sir William Hamilton in 1776; between 1814 and 1970 it belonged to the earls of Radnor and was purchased by the Museum at auction in 1970 for a record-setting price.