_Velazquez_ (Spanish: 1599-1660). _See 197._
_See also_ (p. xxi)
An unfinished picture once in the possession of Sir Edwin Landseer,
and presented to the Gallery by Lord Savile, who has given a very
interesting surmise of the subject: "It is evidently the representation
of a betrothal in a private family, probably that of Velazquez himself.
If this surmise be correct, the principal male figure would be
Velazquez as a Knight of the Order of Santiago, the red cross of which,
though half concealed, is seen on his cloak; the mother presenting
her child would be his daughter, the wife of the artist Del Mazo, his
pupil and son-in-law, and the girl, their daughter, the grandchild of
Velazquez. The foreground is occupied on the right by a half-length
figure of the poet Quevedo, with a huge pair of horn spectacles, as he
is represented in his portrait by Velazquez at Apsley House, though
here he is a much older man. He was a great friend of Velazquez, and
in this picture may represent the witness to the betrothal of the
artist's grandchild. On the right is a negro, probably Juan Pareja,
the favourite slave of Velazquez, who is conveying a basket of fruit
to his young mistress. Velazquez himself is waiting, pen in hand, for
the 'promesso sposo,' who, though not shown in the picture, may be
entering the room by the portière which an attendant is raising; but
he is seen by the little bride elect, who waves a salute to him with
the flower in her hand. [Contrast, as a pretty little incident, the dog
who is running towards the door and barking at the stranger.] It is
not surprising that a painting of this unusual character should give
rise to doubt as to the correctness of its attribution, and it has been
suggested that it is the work of Del Mazo, the pupil of Velazquez; but
if that artist had been commissioned to paint the portrait of a knight
of Santiago, his sitter would scarcely have been satisfied with the
scanty indication of that celebrated order shown in this picture. If,
however, as I believe, the knight of Santiago represents Velazquez
himself, the half-hidden cross of that order assumes an aspect that
may have an important bearing on the questions of the authorship
of the picture, the date of the work, and the cause of its being
unfinished. Stirling-Maxwell, in his admirable and exhaustive _Annals
of the Artists of Spain_, relates that Philip IV. in 1658 conferred on
Velazquez the habit of the Order of Santiago; but it was not for many
months later that the artist was invested with its insignia, owing
to the formalities required by the Order to prove his pedigree. The
King, impatient at this delay, sent for the President of the Order
and the documents connected with the case, and having looked at them
his Majesty said to the President, 'Place on record that the evidence
satisfies me.' The half-concealed red cross of Santiago in the picture
was sufficient for Velazquez to show that he was entitled to the Order,
but, with the modesty and conscientiousness that distinguished him, he
did not design the insignia on his breast, where it is worn, apparently
not feeling justified in so doing until after his investiture. This,
however, did not occur till November 1659. It is evident, therefore,
that the picture must have been painted in 1658, after he had received
the habit, but not the insignia, of the Order. That the picture was
left unfinished was doubtless due to the onerous duties with which
Velazquez was charged by the King in preparing the meeting on the
Bidassoa, in 1660, of the French and Spanish Courts, to celebrate the
nuptials of Louis XIV. and the Infanta Maria Teresa. These duties
doubled the official fatigues and shortened the life of Velazquez, who
died shortly after his return to Madrid in August of the same year.
There is, therefore, good reason to believe that the picture in the
National Gallery is the last ever painted by Velazquez" (letter to the
_Times_, May 11, 1895).