_Velazquez_ (Spanish: 1599-1660). _See 197._
The king is younger here than in 745; hanging from his chain is the
order of the Golden Fleece. Notice also that the head is not so
minutely painted here as in 745; that being a bust portrait would be
seen near, this being a full-length would naturally be placed above the
level of the eye. The smaller picture might be called, in the art-slang
of to-day, "a harmony in black and gold"; this, from the shimmer on
its lace and the flashing on the rapier hilt, "a harmony in black and
silver."
"Strange lot," exclaims a biographer of Velazquez, with reference
to the painter's portraits of the king, "to be the Apelles of this
inactive Alexander. For thirty-seven long years always painting the
same effigy! For throughout all these years Philip's features preserved
a marvellous, a startling uniformity. In the black silk court dress,
in the hunting suit, in the military uniform, in the white satin
robe of state, in the gilded steel armour, in the festive religious
attire--kneeling, standing, mounted--the same stereotyped head is
still there with its everlasting steadfast gaze. It may change from
lean to full, from the fresh smooth features of youth and those of
manhood, marked by the lines of passion, to the leaden, swollen, and
rigid lineaments of age; but even at a distance it is still instantly
recognised. Who can mistake the long oval, with its pale whitish
complexion, and cold phlegmatic glance of the great blue eyes under
the high forehead, and light stiffly-curled hair, strong flat lips
and massive chin, the whole overcast with an expression of pride that
repels all advances and suppresses all outward show of feeling? He is
said to have laughed but thrice in his life; and although the statement
might be questioned, it was still good enough to point a sally in one
of Calderon's plays" (Justi's _Velazquez and his Times_, pp. 107, 108).