_Velazquez_ (Spanish: 1599-1660). _See 197._
One of the master's most famous works. "In the year 1639," says
Palomino, "he made the picture of Don Adrian Pulido Pareja, a native
of Madrid, Knight of the Order of Santiago, Admiral of the Fleet of
New Spain, who about that time was here transacting various official
matters with His Majesty. This portrait is life size, and is among the
most famous painted by Velazquez, on which account he put his name to
it, which he otherwise seldom did: _Didacus Velazquez fecit; Philip IV.
à cubiculo eiusque Pictor, anno 1639_." The painter's signature was not
the only thing which served at the time to stamp the picture as one of
special excellence. The King one day was paying his customary visit
to the painter; Philip mistook the picture for the admiral himself,
and rebuked him for tarrying in Madrid when he had been ordered away.
Perceiving his mistake, he addressed Velazquez with the words: 'I
assure you I was deceived.' "This, of course," says Mr. Colvin, "is one
of the common legends which abound in the art history of all countries,
from Greece to Japan; but it is almost possible to believe the tale
when we look at the picture. Something of the rugged flashing power and
fierce eagerness of the sitter seems to have passed into the painter's
hand, and the method of execution he has chosen emphasises and
harmonises with the character of the subject. The rude soldier-sailor
in his handsome suit stands in bodily and spiritual presence before us,
and seems snorting with impatience to be off to the fight once more."
Pulido, the subject of the picture, was a captain who distinguished
himself greatly during the siege of Fontarabia, in the war with France.
"The browned face with gleams of white light belongs," says Professor
Justi, in describing the picture, "to a not uncommon Castilian type,
of which this is an exceptionally stout, sturdy, grim specimen. The
thick black shady eyebrows, very bushy and nearly meeting above the
nose, the perpendicular wrinkle right in the middle of the forehead,
the up-twirled mustachio,--the whole enframed in an abundant mass
of black hair parted on one side and profusely crowning the defiant
head,--bespeak the dauntless soldier as he stood on the ramparts of
Fontarabia, as he will yet stand on the quarter-deck of the Admiral's
ship in the hottest of the fight. There is nothing of the courtier in
the attitude, for he stands bolt upright, like a soldier before his
commanding officer. We see at once that he is not the man to hesitate
about risking his own life or that of others in the deadly jaws of a
breach. Both hands wear the yellow leather gloves, the right holding
the Admiral's staff, the left a very broad-brimmed felt hat. On his
breast is the red, gold-hemmed scarf and the red enamelled decoration
of the Order of Santiago"--which the King had bestowed upon him for his
gallantry in the siege.
With regard to the _technique_ of the picture, Palomino tells us that
Velazquez painted it with brushes of unusual length, in order to work
with greater force and effect standing at a distance. "It appears in
fact (says Professor Justi) to have been very broadly treated, with
more fiery vigour than delicacy. The light yellow-gray ground--dark
above, and without any relation to the limits of wall and floor--has
been specially prepared with reference to the black velvet costume.
Don Adrian stands a little to the left, his glance directed towards
the observer, legs[247] brought close together, feet almost at a right
angle. The colour is applied more freely than usual, the otherwise
rarely employed dazzling white patches on the deep lace collar,
flowered satin sleeves, plumes, bows on the knees, and accoutrements,
helping the illusion."