Portrait of a Man, Possibly a Self-Portrait

Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) Spanish

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 955

This is probably the "portrait of Diego, clothes to be finished" listed in an inventory of the artist's possessions. The sitter relates to a figure in Velázquez's Surrender of Breda (Museo del Prado, Madrid). Scholars have questioned whether the painter would have dared to include himself as a bystander at such a historic military victory, and the surviving evidence suggests that he rarely made studies for his larger works. However, if the figure in that composition is the artist, a preparatory step such as this would have made it easier for Velázquez to transfer his likeness to that large painting.

Portrait of a Man, Possibly a Self-Portrait, Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (Spanish, Seville 1599–1660 Madrid), Oil on canvas

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