Lives of Velázquez

Lives of the Artists

by Francisco Pacheco, Antonio Palomino

The astonishing artwork of Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) had an immediate impact upon both his contemporaries and later artists. Most of the information available on his life and incomparably successful career comes from the two biographies collected in this insightful volume. “This Life,” part of Francisco Pacheco’s theoretical work Art of Painting, has never been translated before, and reveals the degree to which Velázquez’s work challenged the tenets of traditional painting. Antonio Palomino’s biography contains details of Velázquez’s life but also tackles the wider aesthetic debate engendered by his subject matter and style. Richly illustrated with Velázquez’s key works, this collection provides insight into the mind and world of a great painter.

Genres: Spain

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2007

About the author

Francisco Pacheco del Río (bap. 3 November 1564 – 27 November 1644) was a Spanish painter, best known as the teacher and father-in-law of Diego Velázquez and Alonzo Cano, and for his textbook on painting, entitled Art of Painting, that is an important source for the study of 17th-century practice in Spain. He is described by some as the "Vasari of Seville": voluble and didactic about his theories of painting and thoughts about painters, conventional and uninspired in his executions.